`PRIVATE RYAN' STILL TOPS AFTER FOURTH WEEKEND.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

Steven Spielberg's ``Saving Private Ryan'' remained victorious for the fourth straight weekend at the box office with an estimated $12.9 million at 2,654 theaters nationwide during the Friday-Sunday period, studio sources said Sunday.

The performance gave DreamWorks' D-Day epic an impressive $125.8 million in its first 24 days as the weekend-to-weekend decline registered a mere 24 percent, indicating that ``Saving Private Ryan'' has an excellent shot at becoming the 24th movie to top the $200 million mark in U.S. grosses.

``I think we'll continue to see the movie play well into the fall,'' said distribution chief James Tharp. ``It won't be as affected as other films by the start of school.''

Analyst Arthur Rockwell of Drake & Co. agreed, noting that ``Saving Private Ryan'' will receive an additional boost near the end of the year as Hollywood's awards season heats up. ``I think $200 million is in the bag already,'' he added.

Finishing a solid second was 20th Century Fox's opening of ``How Stella Got Her Groove Back'' with $11.8 million at 1,339 theaters. The romance, with Angela Bassett involved with a man half her age, overcame mixed reviews with a strong marketing effort, Rockwell said.

Box office tracker Robert Bucksbaum, president of Reel Source, said ``Stella'' will continue to draw well for several weeks but noted its results could be held down by two openings starring African-Americans next weekend - New Line's ``Blade'' with Wesley Snipes as a vampire fighter and Sony's ``Dance With Me'' with Vanessa Williams as a salsa dancer. ``It's strange that these have been bunched together,'' he said.

Warner Bros.' debut of ``The Avengers'' came in third with $10.5 million at 2,466 theaters after the studio took the rare step of not screening the action-fantasy for critics prior to the opening. Reviews this weekend were brutal and the returns for the $60 million project, starring Sean Connery, Uma Thurman and Ray Fiennes, were disappointing.

``The reviews don't matter much on a movie like this, but it's a tough sell since the TV series was only on for a few years,'' said Bucksbaum, who had been expecting a $15 million opening.

20th Century Fox's fifth weekend of ``There's Something About Mary'' was an impressive fourth with $8.8 million at 2,201 sites to go past $91 million. It lost only 8 percent from the previous weekend and will soon become the 175th film to top the $100 million mark in U.S. grosses, although it will be one of the few to do so without ever leading the weekend box office.

```There's Something About Mary'' is a low comedy that's really worked well,'' Rockwell said.

The eight 1998 titles to hit the $100 million milestone are ``Deep Impact,'' ``Godzilla,'' ``The Truman Show,'' ``Mulan,'' ``Dr. Dolittle,'' ``Armageddon,'' ``Lethal Weapon 4'' and ``Saving Private Ryan.''

``Mary'' edged a pair of entries in their second weekends - Paramount's ``Snake Eyes'' with $8.7 million at 2,718 sites and Miramax's ``Halloween: H20'' with $8.4 million at 2,669 sites. The latter, with a slight $17 million budget, is churning out profits for parent Walt Disney Co. with $39.8 million in its first 12 days.

The slasher sequel was followed by a pair of family comedies with solid returns in their third weekends - Fox's ``Ever After'' with $5.8 million at 2,058 locations and Disney's ``The Parent Trap'' with $5.5 million at 2,407 sites.

Rounding out the top 10 were Disney's seventh weekend of ``Armageddon'' with $4 million at 1,786 theaters and Warner Bros.' second weekend of ``The Negotiator'' with $3.98 million at 2,032 screens.

Sony's fifth weekend of ``The Mask of Zorro'' came in 11th with $3.88 million at 2,123 sites, followed by Warner's sixth weekend of ``Lethal Weapon 4'' with $3.2 million at 1928 theaters.

``Armageddon'' has reached $179.9 million in 47 days and ranks 34th on the all-time domestic list behind ``Mission: Impossible.''

Two other new entries posted unimpressive results - Miramax's comedy sequel ``Air Bud: Golden Receiver'' fetched $2.7 million at 1,669 theaters and PolyGram's Malaysian adventure ``Return to Paradise'' with $2.4 million at 969 screens as the latter failed to capitalize on generally positive reviews. Bucksbaum said PolyGram may have been distracted by the pending sale of its film operations.

Fox Searchlight's limited opening of offbeat comedy ``The Slums of Beverly Hills'' generated strong returns with $135,000 at seven screens.

Year-to-date business has reached $4.2 billion and is 8 percent ahead of the same period last year. Summer business, starting with the Memorial Day weekend, is at about $2 billion, or about 11 percent up from the same period last year. The 1997 summer set a record of $2.22 billion when it closed out on Labor Day, while this summer will finish around $2.5 billion.

``Overall business is pretty good right now, considering that it's the soft end of summer with the last hurrah for vacations,'' Rockwell said.

Final figures for this weekend will be released today.

TOP 10 MOVIES

Here are estimated grosses for the top movies at North American theaters for Friday through Sunday:

1. ``Saving Private Ryan,'' $12.9 million.

2. ``How Stella Got Her Groove Back,'' $11.8 million

3. ``The Avengers,'' $10.5 million.

4. ``There's Something About Mary,'' $8.8 million.

5. ``Snake Eyes,'' $8.7 million.

6. ``Halloween: H20,'' $8.4 million.

7. ``Ever After,'' $5.8 million.

8. ``The Parent Trap,'' $5.5 million.

9. ``Armageddon,'' $4 million.

10. ``The Negotiator,'' $3.9 million.

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BOX: Top 10 movies (see text)