Box Office Finals: M2M Blasts into 1st; NINTH GATE opens in 2nd.

By Steve Biodrowski     March 14, 2000
Source: Variety

The final box office tally held no great surprises, but there were a few departures from studio estimates: most notably, PITCH BLACK wound up in 10th place (not 9th as predicted), with $2.9-million instead of $3.1; the film was edged out by the kids comedy SNOWDAY. As expected MISSION TO MARS blasted into first place, but the weekend take was $22.86-million, slightly below estimates. THE NINTH GATE opened in 2nd, with $6.62-million. Also in the Top 10 was AMERICAN BEAUTY, with $3.66-million.

Other genre films to earn over $1-million were: THE TIGGER MOVIE ($2.46-million), SCREAM 3 ($1.54-million), WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? ($1.463-million), and FANTASIA 2000 (1.462-million). The SCREAM sequel, with a total of $84.45-million to date, seems to be lagging behind the $100-million+ totals of its predecessors, but if distributor Dimension remains true to form, they could up the ante with a major push for a re-release. Also of note: thanks to expanding into second run houses (an increase from 250 to 650 screens), SLEEPY HOLLOW jumped from 46th place up to 23rd. Its take of $564,229 represented a 636% increase over the previous weekend, increasing the total to $99.17-million; another weekend could take it past the $100-million mark.

The box office for this weekend's genre films is ranked below. As always, totals are given in millions of dollars.

Mission to Mars (1) 22.86/22.86
The Ninth Gate (2) 6.62/6.62
American Beauty (5) 3.66/98.03
Pitch Black (10) 2.94/34.09
The Tigger Movie (13) 2.46/38.79
Scream 3 (16) 1.54/84.45
What Planet Are You From? (17) 1.463/5.37
Fantasia 2000 (18) 1.462/31.13
The Sixth Sense (20) .968/286.83
The Green Mile (22) .657/133.58
Sleepy Hollow (23) .564/99.17
Stuart Little (24) .515/137.47
Toy Story 2 (28) .275/241.36
Galaxy Quest (30) .217/69.90
Magnolia (44) .088/21.90
Being John Malkovich (46) .082/22.27
The World Is Not Enough (47) .080/126.72
Titus (53) .054/1.39
T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous (56) .044/27.95
The Third Miracle (58) .039/.535