Wow! Despite Christmas falling on a Friday and a terribly crowded marketplace, the top 60 broke records, taking in $147.7 million, besting last year's December 26-28 period by $2.3 million. What's more incredible is how last year's same weekend only saw a 46% increase over the previous, whereas this year saw an 85% increase. And this was managed with the top three movies seeming to have almost identical demographics.

Patch Adams broke the record for a movie opening on Christmas weekend and broke Universal's losing streak. Given the relative weak showing of more straightforward family fare, Robin Williams in his trademark Robin Williams role must have drawn quite a few families, giving it the edge over Stepmom and You've Got Mail.

The Faculty failed to capitalize on the teen market. After all, it had this demographic all to itself and only managed $11.6 million. Let's hope that this and I Still Have a Ridiculously Long Title's soft box office is a sign of the slasher flick's demise.

The Thin Red Line scored a whopping $44,710 average ($223,548 from five screens). However, word is so decidedly mixed that chances of further box office glory seem unlikely.

The biannual Star Trek picture opens this weekend and will easily take the top spot. However, it will be hard pressed to match the total of the last installment, First Contact. It just looks like another episode of the show. Granted the last two did as well, but they at least dealt with significant aspects of the Trek universe (Kirk's death, the Borg). Also, the marketing campaign is terrible (and reminiscent of that Kurt Russell bomb, Soldier) with it's awful techno music, cheesy effects, and emphasis on the action. They're really resting on their laurels with this one, apparently thinking that the fact that it's Star Trek will be enough to make people want to see it. Certainly the hard core fans will eat it up, but there won't be enough gains in other demographics to make it a blockbuster.

Meanwhile, Jack Frost, the latest entry in the "what the hell were they thinking" genre, continues Michael Keaton's downward spiral. Frankly, the premise is too morbid to lure the kids, and the treatment too sugary to lure any adults. Chalk up yet another bomb for Warner Bros.

This weekend is the calm before the holiday storm. Traditionally, this is when the box office takes a precipitous drop. The studios know this too. 1996's Daylight was the last time they went wide on this weekend. It bombed.

Can Universal, who has been in a funk for a long time with bombs like Meet Joe Black and Babe: Pig in the City, overcome history and breakthrough with the Psycho remake? I don't think so. The main reason being that the original is one of the most famous movies ever, and remakes, in general, don't perform well unless they disguise their origins and have significant star power. On the other hand, Psycho should appeal to the slasher flick crowd and film buffs curious to see just how closely it recreated the original.

The latest assault on the senses from Jerry Bruckheimer opens today. It is called Enemy of the State, and it is not to be confused with Ibsen's Enemy of the People. The picture is yet another conspiracy thriller, this time starring Gene Hackman and the Fresh Prince.

The marketing campaign, like the picture I'm sure, is a cacophonous blur. One thing I noticed though is that they rely solely on people's assumption that whatever the Fresh Prince says will be funny. An example of this is when he says something like "you sure picked a nice car to steal." But they never show the car. So this lame attempt at humor doesn't even make sense.

What's more, the campaign is sorely lacking in the "money shots" that these types of pictures rely so heavily on to fill seats.

Disney might not have confidence in it either. It is rolling out on only 2,393 screen. An event picture of this magnitude generally gets 2,800+.

I just don't see this one being quite the blockbuster that everyone else thinks. Then again, I have absolutely no desire to see it.

The Rugrats Movie opens on a whopping 2,782 screens. I must admit, I have no idea what this will do. It is completely out of my radar. Paramount sure seems confident though, and they had success with the Beavis and Butthead movie.

Meanwhile, that wretch, Woody Allen, is such box office poison that Miramax doesn't even mention him in the ads for Celebrity.

The battle of the blanks commences today.

First off, there's the remake of Death Takes a Holiday. Brad Pitt takes on the Fredric March role this time. In a way, it's perfect for him. After all, Pitt usually comes off as dead behind the eyes.

Meet Joe Black is the third supernatural love story this year after City of Angels (the remake of Wings of Desire) and What Dreams May Come. It looks like it will perform at about the same level, however it will take a long time for it to get out of the red (if it ever does). The picture cost an astounding $90 million. Add to that a marketing campaign that is so incessant, it must have cost around $50 million.

Pitt seems to be making a career of pictures that are long sits. Last year there was The Devil's Own and Seven Years in Tibet (which actually felt like seven years), and now Meet Joe Black, which, at nearly three hours, is twice as long as the original.

Another thing, has anyone else noticed Pitt's voice lately? Just as Madonna went from a New York accent to a British one, Pitt now speaks with an affectation. It sounds like he's attempting a Mid-Atlantic accent (a la Cary Grant but not clipped). Perhaps he or his managers think this will make him appear more intelligent, but they're wrong. He still has trouble saying anything coherent, and the affectation makes him look all the more ridiculous.

But enough of the Brad bashing, it's time to bash the even more vacuous I Still Have a Ridiculously Long Title. It's the latest in the recent inundation of homogenized slasher flicks. The first one took its clichéd self so seriously it committed the ultimate sin: being an utter bore. On top of that, it was rather mean spirited just like the rest of its brethren. The new one just looks worse, or, rather, like more of the same.

An odd thing about its release though is that it's opening on fewer screens than the first one. Usually, a sequel opens on more. Perhaps this means Sony doesn't expect to make as much this time.

At any rate, both pictures should be no match for The Waterboy zeitgeist.