`RINGS' HOLDS OFF CONTENDERS PER-SCREEN AVERAGES HERALD NEWCOMERS.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

In a tight three-way battle for box office supremacy, ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' managed to remain No. 1 for the fourth straight week but will face stiff competition this week from the wide release of the military drama ``Black Hawk Down,'' which did phenomenal business in limited release.

New Line Cinema's ``Rings'' grossed $16.1 million over the weekend, dropping by 30 percent. But it still attracted enough moviegoers to hold off Universal's ``A Beautiful Mind,'' which had a solid $15.8 million weekend take, and Paramount's new teen comedy ``Orange County,'' which earned a surprising $15.1 million in its first weekend, according to studio estimates.

Audience figures for ``Mind'' dropped by only 5 percent from last weekend as the critically acclaimed drama, directed by Ron Howard and starring Russell Crowe, reached a cumulative gross of $59 million.

``Orange County,'' a comedy about a student going to extremes to get accepted into Stanford University, exceeded studio and industry expectations with its third-place finish.

``The $15 million opening is on the high end of where we thought it would be,'' said Wayne Lewellen, Paramount's president of distribution. ``It's a very good number, and we had the advantage of being the only new wide release.''

The film has a strong second-generation pedigree marking the starring debut of Colin Hanks, the 24-year-old son of Tom Hanks, and also starring Schuyler Fisk, the daughter of Sissy Spacek. ``Orange County'' was directed by Jake Kasdan, who is the son of director Lawrence Kasdan.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, said the film also benefited from being the only new film of its kind in the marketplace right now.

``In this sea of Oscar contenders and big epics, 'Orange County' just offered something for teens that really isn't out there right now.''

Like ``Mind,'' the Ridley Scott-directed ``Black Hawk'' has been enjoying strong word-of-mouth support and critical buzz.

A depiction of the bloody U.S. engagement in Somalia in 1993, Sony's ``Black Hawk'' played on 16 screens in Los Angeles and New York and earned a stupendous $45,313 per screen. In all, the film brought in $725,000 and has grossed $1.4 million to date. It expands to more than 3,000 theaters next weekend.

``We believe it will create word-of-mouth, and that was the reason for opening it a little slower,'' said Tom Sherak, a partner in Revolution Studios, which made the film. ``The picture has performed like a thoroughbred. Everything we have asked this picture to do so far, it has done.''

Dergarabedian believes ``Black Hawk'' could be the film to knock ``Rings'' from its throne.

``The story of this weekend is the per-theater average, which is an indicator of how full theaters are,'' he said. ``This bodes very well for 'Black Hawk Down.' It will be the major contender for the No. 1 spot, no question about it.''

The second-highest per-screen performance came from Universal's ``Brotherhood of the Wolf,'' a French horror thriller that took in $473,000 in 21 locations for a terrific per-screen average of $22,524.

``The Royal Tenenbaums'' also scored a strong $7,072 per-screen average in just over 900 theaters to finish in fifth place for the second week in a row. The film, released under Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner, sold an estimated $6.4 million in tickets for an overall gross of $30 million and has benefited greatly from Gene Hackman's critically acclaimed performance.

USA Films' ``Gosford Park'' finished in the ninth position even though it is playing on only 518 screens. The Robert Altman-directed ensemble drama had the highest per-screen average of any film in the top 10 ($7,307) and earned $3.8 million overall for a cumulative gross of $6.7 million.

Close behind in 12th place was the Miramax drama ``In the Bedroom,'' which averaged $7,075 per screen, in 424 locations and now has an overall gross of $8 million.

In addition to ``Orange County,'' Paramount had two other releases holding up well in the top 10. ``Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'' finished in sixth place by bringing in $5.5 million for a four-week total of $69 million. Coming in one spot lower was the Tom Cruise film ``Vanilla Sky,'' which added $5 million to its gross over the weekend and has earned an impressive $88.4 million since its release.

``I think 'Vanilla Sky' will get to over $100 million now,'' Lewellen said. ``Tom Cruise was out there doing publicity work (last) week and that helped to hold the picture up. We are very happy with it.''

Warner Bros. ``Ocean's Eleven'' finished its sixth week in release in a distant fourth place by earning $7.5 million and upping its impressive overall gross to $162.4 million. Warner Bros.' other major holiday blockbuster, ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,'' fell to No. 10 with a weekend total of $3.4 million for a whopping overall gross of $305 million.

TOP 10 MOVIES

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released today.

1. ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,'' $16.1 million.

2. ``A Beautiful Mind,'' $15.8 million.

3. ``Orange County,'' $15.1 million.

4. ``Ocean's Eleven,'' $7.5 million.

5. ``The Royal Tenenbaums,'' $6.4 million.

6. ``Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,'' $5.5 million.

7. ``Vanilla Sky,'' $5 million.

7. ``Kate & Leopold,'' $5 million.

9. ``Gosford Park,'' $3.8 million.

10. ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,'' $3.4 million.

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TOP 10 MOVIES (see text)