‘Blade’ Still a Cut Above as Ticket Sales Heat Up

Summertime-heat blues in parts of the country including Southern California sent patrons rushing into air-conditioned multiplexes over the weekend, resulting in strong attendance at the top three films--”Blade,” “Saving Private Ryan” and, especially, “There’s Something About Mary.” Otherwise, the penultimate summer weekend held few surprises, with the two musically oriented opening films--”54” and “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” lacking any real pizazz.

“54,” starring Mike Myers, was eighty-sixed by most critics and brought in a less-than-ecstatic estimate of $6.6 million in 1,859 theaters. Still, that was far less foolish than the musical biopic “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” about ‘50s juvenile pop singer Frankie Lymon, which grossed an out-of-tune $4.2 million in 1,369 theaters.

New Line’s vampire movie, “Blade,” is doing action film business and is a potent late-summer performer, holding on to the No. 1 position in its second weekend with a better-than-expected drop-off of only 35% to an estimated $11.1 million in 2,351 theaters, giving the versatile Wesley Snipes a 10-day total of almost $35 million.

“Something About Mary” reached its loftiest heights, climbing to No. 2 in its seventh weekend, adding about 200 theaters and, most significantly, actually gaining business. The smash comedy increased its take by 14% over last weekend, meaning that it has crossed over from “big hit” into “phenomenon” territory and will play right into the fall. Now in 2,401 theaters, “Mary” grossed about $8.8 million for just under $117 million to date. The movie will now almost certainly be the No. 3 film of the summer--and far and away the most profitable--behind “Armageddon” and “Saving Private Ryan,” the latter of which was outdistanced by “Mary” this weekend despite a smaller-than-usual drop of only 18%. In 2,774 theaters, “Ryan” amassed $8.3 million, and after only six weeks has $155.5 million. (With $2.3 million over the weekend, “Armageddon” increased its summer total to $188.5 million.)

*

Interestingly, all three of the weekend’s top movies are rated R, which flies in the face of the current industry logic that the R dampens box-office receipts. Even the small-town theaters that had earlier refused “Something About Mary” have come around as the film continues to rack up sizable attendance, says 20th Century Fox senior executive Tom Sherak, which seems to indicate that theater owners are more conservative than the patrons they serve.

While “Ever After” is not in the league of the top three films, it’s clearly a sleeper hit and continues to please date-nighters in its fifth weekend, down only 13% to $4 million in 1,912 theaters, putting the $50-million plateau less than a week away. “Snake Eyes” also held well in its fourth weekend, taking in $3.7 million on 2,243 screens for $46.2 million after one month.

“How Stella Got Her Groove Back” was stuck with another serious decline, around 44%, to about $3.6 million in 1,383 theaters for a $28-million three-week total. But then it had competition for the female audience from “Dance With Me,” which held surprisingly well in its second weekend with an estimated $3 million in 1,467 theaters and $9.4 million so far.

“Dead Man on Campus” had a low grade point average of $2.9 million in 1,830 theaters in its second weekend and is close to graduating to home video with only $9.7 million in two weeks. “Dead Man” was neck-and-neck for 10th place with “The Parent Trap,” which rallied to $2.9 million over the weekend as kids caught a look-see before turning their eyes to schoolbooks and teachers’ dirty looks. The grand total on “Trap” is about $56 million.

The first wide break on the comedy “Slums of Beverly Hills” in 181 venues brought $843,000 for the weekend and $1.2 million after three weeks. The vicious and vitriolic “Your Friends & Neighbors” is due to go wide this coming weekend after a second weekend of $358,930 on 45 screens and just under $1 million to date. “Next Stop Wonderland” broadened to 69 theaters in its second weekend for an OK $370,000 and just over $500,000 in two weeks.

Finally, as pieces of the ill-fated ocean liner were being dragged to shore and the two-tape video boxed set was flooding stores, the less-than-ill-fated movie “Titanic” went where no other film has gone before this past Thursday: the $600-million mark. Worldwide total on the theatrical maiden voyage now stands at about $1.8 billion.