Weekend Box OFfice

Gladiator threw the Scientologists to the lions, as its second weekend haul of $24.6 million more than doubled the opening of the universally reviled Battlefield Earth. It eased by just 29%, phenomenal for a picture performing at these levels, bringing its total to $73.6 million after ten days. In comparison, last year's early May summer kick-off The Mummy was down 43% to $24.9 million in its second frame and had accumulated $80.6 million. 1998's Deep Impact was also down 43% to $23.3 million bringing its total to $74 million. Both pictures ended their runs with $155.4 and $140.5 million respectively.

Few were interested in seeing a cackling John Travolta prancing about in dreadlocks and an enormous codpiece as his $73 million pet project Battlefield Earth mustered just $11.5 million from 3,307 theaters, the fifth widest release of all time. What will this do to his "tone scale"? Perhaps some intensive "auditing" at the Celebrity Center is now in store for him to get all of his "thetans" in order.

My God, what does one say about Battlefield Earth that hasn't been said already? The ad campaign declares that "John Travolta is the new face of evil." Hey, they said it. Not me. "The summer movie season starts off with a bang." Yeah, from the sound of this megaton bomb exploding.

Distributor Warner Bros. won't be losing that much money though. They just paid for the prints and advertising and are getting first dollar until they recoup their costs. Franchise Pictures, who foot the hefty production bill, will be the one hurting though, as the picture will peter out quickly, drowning them in red ink. They should have known better. No way in hell was this thing ever going to make money.

Looking like a teeny-bopperized cross between Fame and The Red Shoes, Center Stage had a lukewarm reception. The Sony release pirouetted to the tune of $4.6 million from 1,506 theaters.

The long delayed Screwed screwed up Norm MacDonald's movie career further as the comedy opened to just $3.3 million from 1,759 theaters, though it wasn't promoted much at all nor effectively by Universal. His previous effort Dirty Work opened to $3.6 million from a similar theater count, 1,776, in June 1998, and petered out at $10 million.

Held Up starring Jamie Foxx and Nia Long got next to zero promotion from Trimark, thus explaining its slim $1.9 million from 688 theaters. Perhaps this half-assed release was out of contractual obligation and more to promote its launch in video stores where Trimark's titles usually go straight to.

In limited action, yet another movie version of Hamlet opened, this time starring the greasy Ethan Hawke in the title role. It did so-so business, taking in $62,253 from four venues.

Meanwhile U-571, Frequency, Where the Heart Is and holdovers in general held up quite well, mostly declining in the 20% range. In a somewhat baffling move, Universal added another 74 theaters to The Flintstones sequel's run, bringing its total to a way-too-wide 3,125 theaters. It was down 30% to $4.6 million, for a measly $1,485 average and meager $24.4 million to date.

Overall box office totaled $85.8 million, down 3% from last weekend, but up 21% over the same frame last year when The Mummy unwrapped $24.9 million for its second outing.