Weekend Box Office

Mission to Mars didn't quite blast off, but it did dominate the slow marketplace as expected, grossing $22.9 million from 3,054 theaters. While strong, Disney was hoping for more Matrix-like numbers from this summer-style event picture, given the $100 million budget and aggressive ad campaign they mounted. Mixed word-of-mouth should cause it to burn out quickly. The derivative premise and trailer that seemed to spoil the whole thing contributed to keeping the opening at more down-to-earth levels.

The Ninth Gate was a distant second with $6.6 million from 1,586 theaters. That's a decent sum, given the limited and cheesy ad campaign and competition from Mars. Distributor Artisan hopes to make its money from the home video market, similarly to what they did with Stir of Echoes, where rentals have already eclipsed its modest theatrical gross from last fall.

The most impressive performance was by My Dog Skip. Without adding any theaters, it was actually up 2% to $6 million, cementing its status as the sleeper family hit of the season. The $7 million-budgeted picture has now grossed $14.1 million.

American Beauty and The Cider House Rules continued to hold up exceptionally well even by Oscar nominee standards, grossing $3.7 and $3.5 million respectively. Beauty's total reached $98 million and it should cross the century mark by Friday. Overseas, it has already eclipsed that total, having grossed $111.5 million thus far. Amazing, since it's not the kind of picture that traditionally does well overseas.

Overall box office totaled $86.9 million, up 5% over last weekend and up 3% over the same frame last year when Analyze This topped the chart for the second weekend in a row with $15.6 million.