Date: 2nd October 2000

Olympics? What Olympics?


Suggesting that studio execs may have badly overestimated the stay-at-home force of the televised Olympic Games, Denzel Washington's Remember the Titans opened with a far-better-than-expected $21.2 million -- making it the best opening in Washington's career. The Disney football drama, directed primarily at males, earned a resounding $11,400 per screen.

On the other hand, Sally Field's Beautiful, aimed at women, tanked in its opening with $1.4 million, earning a not-so-beautiful $646 per screen to tie it with the long-running Space Cowboys for tenth place.

Meanwhile, the restored and reedited The Exorcist, expanding onto 1,150 screens, remained in second place with $7.4 million, representing $6,400 per screen, off just nine percent from last week.

However, like most teen horror flicks, Urban Legends: Final Cut, last week's leader, plummeted in its second week to fourth place with $4.7 million, a 45-percent drop. DreamWorks' Almost Famous remained in third place with $5.6 million as it expanded into 1,635 sites.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Remember the Titans, $21.2 million; 2. The Exorcist, $7.4 million; 3. Almost Famous, $5.6 million; 4. Urban Legends: Final Cut, $4.7 million; 5. Bring It On, $2.9 million; 6. The Watcher, $2.3 million; 7. Nurse Betty, $2.1 million; 8. (tie). Bait, $1.7 million; 8. (tie). What Lies Beneath, $1.7 million; 10. (tie). Beautiful, $1.4 million; 10. (tie). Space Cowboys, $1.4 million.

Source: Studio Briefing