`MUMMY' GETS REVENGE ON CRITICS.Byline: Anthony Breznican Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Defying analysts, critics and the Force, ``The Mummy'' bagged this year's biggest opening weekend at the box office with $44.6 million to kick off the blockbuster movie season. The cat-burglar caper caper, common name for members of the Capparidaceae, a family of tropical plants found chiefly in the Old World and closely related to the family Cruciferae (mustard family). ``Entrapment'' slipped to second place with $12.2 million, and the cyberspace adventure ``The Matrix'' fell to third with $6 million, according to estimates Sunday. ``The Mummy'' got lukewarm reviews for its story about an ancient Egyptian priest who returns from the dead, and many expected the special effects-filled film to do mediocre business before dropping out of sight when ``Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace'' opens May 19. ``Actually, it probably did three times as much business as people were expecting,'' said Robert Bucksbaum, a movie analyst with Reel Source Inc. ``Other films have been just hanging around the box office, but this has that kind of `Raiders of the Lost Ark' appeal,'' he said. ``When you finally get a release like this, everybody goes wild.'' If word-of-mouth from audiences is favorable, Universal Pictures may get a big payoff from its daring move in opening ``The Mummy'' just 12 days before the release of ``The Phantom Menace.'' Most studios are making a wide berth around the ``Star Wars'' prequel pre·quel n. A literary, dramatic, or cinematic work whose narrative takes place before that of a preexisting work or a sequel. [pre- + (se)quel.] . ``The first five days of `Star Wars' will be sold out, so `The Mummy' may actually benefit by being the only alternative,'' Bucksbaum said. ``It may lose 45 percent of its audience, but it'll still do about $150 million by the end of the summer.'' With the best non-summer opening ever for a film, ``The Mummy'' was an impressive showing for star Brendan Fraser and easily beat his previous high opening of $16.5 million for ``George of the Jungle George of the Jungle bungling do-gooder. [TV: Terrace, I, 305–306] See : Ineptitude .'' Also opening in wide release on the weekend was the high school student government satire ``Election,'' starring Reese Witherspoon as a compulsive high-achiever and Matthew Broderick as a frumpy frump n. 1. A girl or woman regarded as dull, plain, or unfashionable. 2. A person regarded as colorless and primly sedate. civics civics, branch of learning that treats of the relationship between citizens and their society and state, originally called civil government. With the large immigration into the United States in the latter half of the 19th cent. teacher. The film opened in only a handful of theaters three weeks ago and rode a wave of positive reviews to fifth place for the weekend at $3.3 million. ``It was very smart to give it a limited opening that way, because it mostly appeals to sophisticated audiences. They built on the fact that it got positive reviews,'' Bucksbaum said. Final results for the Friday-Sunday period will be released today. TOP MOVIES Here are estimated grosses for Friday through Sunday at North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Inc. 1. ``The Mummy,'' $44.6 million. 2. ``Entrapment entrapment, in law, the instigation of a crime in the attempt to obtain cause for a criminal prosecution. Situations in which a government operative merely provides the occasion for the commission of a criminal act (e.g. ,'' $12.2 million. 3. ``The Matrix,'' $6 million. 4. ``Life,'' $3.5 million. 5. ``Election,'' $3.3 million. 6. ``Never Been Kissed Never Been Kissed is a 1999 comedy directed by Raja Gosnell and starring Drew Barrymore, David Arquette, Michael Vartan, Molly Shannon, Leelee Sobieski, John C. Reilly, Jessica Alba, Marley Shelton, James Franco, Giuseppe Andrews, Jeremy Jordan and Garry Marshall. ,'' $3 million. 7. ``Analyze This,'' $1.8 million. 8. ``10 Things I Hate About You,'' $1.2 million. 9. ``Cookie's Fortune,'' $900,000. 10. ``Shakespeare in Love,'' $765,000. CAPTION(S): box Box: Top movies (see text) |
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