‘Waterboy’ Douses Field

First wrestler Jesse Ventura wins the governorship of Minnesota, then Newt Gingrich resigns. The week’s third bombshell is the staggering estimate of $39.1 million for Adam Sandler’s low-brow comedy “The Waterboy,” the best opening ever for a film in November or December.

The “Saturday Night Live” veteran fired a Jim Carrey-like salvo in the first weekend of the 1998 holiday season, with the year’s second best opening (“Deep Impact” was just on the other side of $40 million in starting the summer season). In 2,664 theaters, Disney’s “Waterboy” brought laugh-seekers in by the bucketful, touching down with a commanding per-screen average of almost $15,000. Sandler’s latest outstripped Carrey’s sequel to “Ace Ventura,” which splashed down with just under $38 million in early November a couple of years ago. And it’s light years ahead of Sandler’s “The Wedding Singer,” which opened to almost $19 million earlier this year and went on to gross about $80 million.

The modestly budgeted (at $20 million) comedy had been scoring strongly in pre-release moviegoer surveys, but no one expected a total of just under $40 million--not even Disney studio Chairman Joe Roth. Except for 1994’s “The Lion King,” it’s the biggest opening weekend in Disney history.

The $16.1 million that “Waterboy” grossed on Saturday alone is a personal best for the studio, according to Roth.

“Everybody came to see this movie,” Roth said, adding that “Waterboy” was already pulling down repeat business by Saturday afternoon. Not unexpectedly, the primary audience was male (64% on Friday). Surprisingly, the film did even better on Saturday when the core teenage audience was buttressed with preteens at matinees and older males in the evening.

The controversial action drama “The Siege,” starring Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis, gathered mostly upbeat reviews and, despite being dwarfed by “Waterboy,” got off to a decent start with an estimated $14.6 million in 2,541 theaters. Major protests from Arab-American groups did not materialize, but the film must still brace for the Nov. 20 opening of Disney’s “Enemy of the State,” starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman, which also targets the adult male action crowd.

The first of the season’s numerous family films, the restored 60th anniversary edition of the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” brought Warner Bros. found money with a projected $5.5 million debut in 1,879 theaters, landing it in fourth place.

The independently produced gangsta drama “Belly,” which was turned down by the Magic Johnson theater chain, still managed to crack the top 10 with a first-weekend total of $3.7 million in only 600 theaters. “Belly” has grossed just over $5 million since its Wednesday premiere.

Another newcomer to the top 10 was the romantic comedy “Living Out Loud,” starring Holly Hunter and Danny DeVito, which expanded to 1,086 theaters over the weekend for a promising $4.5 million, and a total to date of almost $5 million--good enough for sixth place.

With “The Waterboy” far outstripping last year’s early-bird holiday arrival, “Starship Troopers,” grosses for the top 12 movies rang up an estimated $94 million, according to Exhibitor Relations, a cushy 32% ahead of last year’s crop, providing a promising launch for the first leg of the holiday season.

An indication of how sharply ticket sales rose this weekend is evident from the longer-running hits still playing in theaters, especially “Antz,” which didn’t seem to notice the arrival of a competitor in “The Wizard of Oz” or a loss of more than 300 theaters. The DreamWorks animated hit was up 20% from Halloween weekend, scoring another $5.4 million in 2,604 theaters over the weekend and is looking at $75 million after six weeks in theaters.

“Pleasantville” also coursed along with a modest 14% drop to about $6 million in its third weekend on just 1,761 screens for a third-place finish and a total of about $26.5 million to date, giving it an excellent chance of hanging around through Thanksgiving. “Practical Magic” also lost little of its allure, dropping only 20% in 2,552 theaters to about $4.2 million and just less than $40 million in its first month.

“Rush Hour” likewise was little fazed by the competition from “Waterboy,” hanging on to earn $3.5 million on 2,043 theaters (a minuscule 9% drop) for a two-month total of $127 million.

The only casualty was the predictable post-Halloween decline of 56% for “John Carpenter’s Vampires,” nose-diving from first place to eighth. On 1,793 screens, “Vampires” was defanged, taking in just $4 million for a two-week total of almost $16 million. And to prove that the sun has yet to set on the British Empire, the star among specialized films was Gramercy’s period drama “Elizabeth,” which started off with a splendid $279,204 on just nine screens, or $31,000 per theater.