`HAUNTED HILL' MAKES RIVALS GIVE UP GHOST.

Byline: Dave McNary Staff Writer

Moviegoers caught the Halloween spirit as ``The House on Haunted Hill'' dominated the nation's box office with an estimated $15.1 million at 2,710 theaters during the Friday-Sunday period, studio sources said Sunday.

``Haunted Hill,'' a remake of the 1958 Vincent Price feature about strangers offered $1 million to spend a night in a former insane asylum, generated impressive results amid the multiple distractions of the Halloween weekend. The Warner Bros. release, with Geoffrey Rush and Famke Jannsen, performed 60 percent above the $9.1 million debut of ``John Carpenter's Vampires'' during the same weekend last year.

``Maybe it's a cliche to say it, but `The House on Haunted Hill' was a special treat for us,'' said studio distribution chief Dan Fellman. He noted that the film is first from Dark Castle, formed by industry heavyweights Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis to produce low-cost horror fare.

``Haunted Hill'' attracted mostly customers under 25 who were split evenly between male and female, according to Fellman. Its performance, better than expected, helped lift the overall box office to $66 million, an impressive 20 percent above the same weekend last year.

Robert Bucksbaum, president of industry tracker Reel Source, credited Warner with solid execution of a marketing campaign aimed at teens and young adults over the last two weeks. ``This performance also really solidifies the fact the horror market is doing very well,'' he added.

The last five major horror films - ``The Haunting,'' ``The Blair Witch Project,'' ``Deep Blue Sea,'' ``The Sixth Sense'' and ``Stigmata'' - have generated well over $600 million in domestic grosses.

Universal's second weekend of ``The Best Man'' finished a distant but respectable second with $6.5 million at 1,348 theaters as the comedy-drama, featuring an African-American cast, lost only 28 percent from its opening weekend. ``It's doing good cross-over business and clearly has a lot of appeal to women,'' said industry tracker Arthur Rockwell.

Paramount's sixth weekend of ``Double Jeopardy'' came in third with $5.4 million at 2,986 theaters to pass $98 million overall. The revenge-drama should become the 198th film to top $100 million domestically this week.

Coming in fourth, DreamWorks' ``American Beauty'' continued to draw well in it seventh weekend, with $3.9 million at 1,528 sites, edging Miramax's lukewarm opening of ``Music of the Heart'' with $3.7 million at 1,349 theaters. Rockwell said ``Heart,'' starring Meryl Streep in the true-life tale of an East Harlem violin teacher, might have benefited from opening in a more limited release to build word-of-mouth among moviegoers about the feel-good story.

DreamWorks used such a platform approach for ``American Beauty,'' which has topped $54 million and is a contender for Academy Awards nominations. ``Heart'' may be helped by strong early support for Street to receive an Oscar nomination, and its 51 percent gain in business between Friday and Saturday indicates word-of-mouth is strong.

TOP MOVIES

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters.

1. ``House on Haunted Hill,'' $15.1 million.

2. ``The Best Man,'' $6.5 million.

3. ``Double Jeopardy,'' $5.4 million.

4. ``American Beauty,'' $3.9 million.

5. ``Music of the Heart,'' $3.7 million.

6. ``Bringing Out the Dead,'' $3.5 million.

7. ``Fight Club,'' $3.3 million.

8. ``The Sixth Sense,'' $3.2 million.

9. ``The Story of Us,'' $3 million.

10. ``Three Kings,'' $2.5 million.

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Box: TOP MOVIES (See text)