Fox pops cork
'Cast' is New Year's noise-maker
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Boffo estimated perf represented a 4% updraft from the previous weekend's $39.3 million.
"I had expected it to be down a little because it was so big last weekend," Fox distribution prexy Bruce Snyder said.
But though "Cast Away" and several other films shrugged off an East Coast snowstorm en route to weekly gains, the weekend B.O. seemed disappointing for a pair of pics.
Nobody's going to complain about the overall perf of Universal/Imagine's "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which added $9.7 million to reach a $254 million cume. But the four-day tally was a 34% drop from the long Christmas weekend and may mean those hairy, green "Grinch" legs will struggle after the holidays.
"I should have this happen every year," U distrib head Nikki Rocco quipped. Indeed, "Grinch" was the year's top-performing domestic film.
'Tiger' claws 'Horses'
Much more downbeat was the weekend perf for "All the Pretty Horses," a Miramax/Sony co-production released by Miramax.
There was no previous-weekend comparison for pic's four-day gross of $4.3 million, as the Matt Damon starrer opened on Christmas Day. But the weekend's No. 10 pic -- "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" from Sony Classics -- grossed an estimated $4.7 million on 162 screens compared with a 1,548-location run for No. 11 "Pretty Horses."
"We have confidence in the long-term playability of the movie," Miramax marketing veep David Kaminow insisted. He said positive exit polling indicates the film may find an audience after the crowded holiday competish thins a bit.
Studio sources put pic's negative cost at $45 million for "Horses," whose eight-day cume is roughly $8.5 million. Production costs were shouldered 50-50 between Miramax and Sony, which will distribute "Pretty Horses" internationally.
Disney's "The Emperor's New Groove" made $14.5 million, ample evidence that time can be a pic's best friend. The animated feature was a slow starter, but now boasts a three-week cume of $50.6 million after a whopping 52% improvement over its Christmas weekend gross.
Disney distrib boss Chuck Viane noted "Groove" turned in that perf even though the Northeast's weekend snowstorm hit Saturday matinees hard.
"Groove" landed at No. 5 for the weekend, one rung higher than "Grinch."The weekend's second- through fourth-place finishes proved interesting, as Sandra Bullock laugher "Miss Congeniality" from Warner Bros. elbowed its way between No. 2 pic "What Women Want" from Paramount, toplined by Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, and No. 4 "The Family Man" from U, starring Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni.
"What Women Want," with a $114.8 cume in less three weeks, is a certifiable phenom. But the robust two-week cume of $45.3 million for "Miss Congeniality" -- a couple of million more than the gross to date for higher- profile "Family Man" -- caught most B.O. watchers by surprise.
"The word-of-mouth has been just great," Warners distrib boss Dan Fellman observed.
Pics poised for important expansions after healthy limited runs include USA Films' drug-war drama "Traffic"; Sony's Sean Connery vehicle "Finding Forrester"; and New Line's Cuban missile crisis thriller "Thirteen Days."
"Traffic," running in more than 1,500 theaters from Friday, grossed $240,000 in four New York and L.A. locations for a mind-altering $60,000 per-engagement average. "Forrester," which hits over 1,700 theaters on Jan. 12, found $3 million in 200 locations for an encouraging $15,000 per-engagement average. And "Thirteen Days," which spreads to 2,000 theaters on Jan. 12, took in $175,000 in eight Gotham and L.A. locations for a spirited $21,875 per-engagement average.
In the specialty market, Disney's "Oh Brother, Where art Thou?" from the producing-and-directing Coen brothers, posted the weekend's biggest gross after "Crouching Tiger," with an estimated $1.4 million from 96 engagements for an impressive $15,052 per-location average.
'Main' doing Fine
A pair of Fine Line releases, laugher "State and Main" and biopic "Before Night Falls," rang up $592,000 and $83,000 respectively. "State and Main," which played in 72 locations, boasted a $8,222 average; "Before Night Falls" averaged $10,390 from eight theaters.
The weekend weather dumped on limited engagements particularly hard, as runs were heavily tilted toward the snowbound New York market.
"The snowstorm definitely hurt us," said Tom Ortenberg, co-prexy at Lions Gate, whose "Shadow of the Vampire" still managed at sunny $150,000 on six Gotham and L.A. screens for a per-engagement bite of $25,000. Pic goes wide Jan. 26.
Miramax's Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche starrer "Chocolat" continued its sweet run with another $1.8 million from 258 locations for a $4.2 million cume, while the studio's Italian-language drama "Malena" bowed in 33 theaters for a $255,000 gross and $7,700 average.
MGM/UA's Michael Winterbottom-helmed "The Claim" struck $6,500 in a single L.A. location.
Industrywide, the weekend fell just short of last Memorial Day's $184.8 million four-day record with an industrywide gross of $181.8 million.
But the weekend estimates show the industry set a new 12-month B.O. record at about $7.45 billion vs. last year's then-record $7.31 billion. And Disney grabbed its third straight yearly B.O. crown, outdistancing a best-ever perf by U by a slim $9 million or so.
