by David Poland

December 15 , 2000

It seems like every week I have less to say about the box office. Maybe that's because of the movies, or maybe it's just because of the movies. Huh? Well, maybe the movies don't inspire any real thought, and the assumption that the biggest movies will do the biggest business is no challenge. Or perhaps, the movie business has just become so predictable this year that there aren't any twists and turns worthy of discussion.

For instance, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon goes to a massive 31 screens this weekend. Wowie! Not competitive. Quills goes to 61… even if it maintained its $17,796 per-screen from last weekend, it wouldn't break the Top Ten.

And what about What Women Want? It will clearly be the top movie this weekend, but tracking has it topping out at $17 million. My guess is that the number crunchers are more than a little intimidated from guessing higher because last year on this weekend, The Green Mile opened to "just" 18 million, with Deuce Bigalow managing $12.2 million. However, Toy Story 2 was still stronger that weekend than The Grinch is now. I think that What Women Want will be a bigger draw than The Green Mile by a significant amount. The Green Mile had Hanks and a Stephen King pedigree, but What Women Want has Mel smiling and ads that will draw every woman for miles, I think. It is an upper, not a downer.

Okay, so maybe it's more interesting than I thought…

WEEKEND GUESSTIMATES
1. What Women Want - 3012 venues - new - $24.6 million
2. The Emperor's New Groove - 2801 venues - new - $18.2 million
3. The Grinch - 3255 venues - off 35 percent - $12.1 million
4. Vertical Limit - 2302 venues - off 40 percent - $9.3 million
5. Dude, Where's My Car? - 2087 venues - new - $8.7 million
6. Proof of Life - 2705 venues - off 45 percent - $5.6 million
7. 102 Dalmatians - 2190 venues - off 38 percent - $3.9 million
8. Unbreakable - 2297 venues - off 50 percent - $3.8 million
9. Dungeons & Dragons - 2078 venues - off 50 percent - $3.6 million
10. Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - 2540 venues - off 45 percent - $2.2 million
11. Meet the Parents -1385 venues – off 30 percent - $2.1 million

NEW ARTHOUSE FILMS
Chocolat - 8 venues
Pollock - 2 venues
South of Heaven, West of Hell - 1 venue
Voyages -1 venue

HOLDOVERS
Billy Elliot - 405 venues - down 66
Requiem for a Dream - 93 venues - up 15
Dr. T & the Women - 85 venues - down 12
Quills - 61 venues - up 51
You Can Count on Me - 52 venues - down 1
What's Cooking? - 49 venues - down 1
Dancer in the Dark - 45 venues - down 17
Two Family House - 34 venues - down 11
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - 31 venues - up 15
Nurse Betty - 19 venues
Girl on the Bridge - 8 venues
Tigerland - 2 venues

UNREPORTED SCREEN COUNTS
A Time for Drunken Horses
Boys Life 3
Snatch
La Buche
Into the Arms of Strangers
Left Luggage
Aimee and Jaguar
Venus Beauty Institute
Panic

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