STORM Sweeps to 1st Place; CHICKEN Shows Legs.

By: Steve Biodrowski
Date: Wednesday, July 05, 2000

The extended July 4 weekend was swept away by THE PERFECT STORM, while patriotism was in relatively short supply: even by jumping the gun and opening on Wednesday instead of Friday, THE PATRIOT could not match STORM's numbers. Genre holdover CHICKEN RUN proved it had legs, while newcomer THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE landed with a thud. And MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II inched just shy of the $200-million mark.

While newcomers STORM and THE PATRIOT took the #1 and #2 positions, CHICKEN RUN took 3rd place, with $21-million over the five-day holiday period, bringing its total to $49.4-million. It was safely ahead of last week's #1 film, ME, MYSELF& IRENE, which droped 47% (the comparison uses the Friday-to-Sunday totals). Meanwhile, ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE could manage only $11-million in nearly 2500 theatres; with bad word of mouth the film should sink in its sophomore weekend. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II managed an additional $7.7-million during the holiday, bringing its total to $199.9-million.

Below is the weekend's Top Ten. Results are studio estimates:

U.S. Box Office Top Ten 7/5/2000
1.	The Pefect Storm	$64.0-million/$64.0-million
2.	The Patriot	$35.2-million/$44.5-million
3.	Chicken Run	$21.0million/$49.4-million
4.	Me, Myself & Irene	$19.5 million/$55.4-million
5.	The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.	$11.0million/$11.0-million
6.	Shaft	$9.7 million/$56.5-million
7.	Big Momma's House	$8.6-million/$97.9 -million
8.	Gone in 60 Seconds.	$7.8-million/$81.5-million
9.	Mission Impossible II	$7.7-million/$199.9-million
10.	Gladiator	$3.7-million/$171.0-million