`TITANIC' NOT SLOWING DOWN AFTER 11 WEEKS IN THEATERS.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

``Titanic,'' buoyed by its status as the must-see movie, continued to dominate the nation's box office in its 11th weekend with an impressive $19.7 million at 3,035 theaters during the Friday-Sunday period, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The disaster epic, handled by Paramount domestically and 20th Century Fox overseas, has now taken in $427 million after 73 days and is expected to become the U.S. market's top ticket-seller ever in mid-March, when it will likely cruise past ``Star Wars' '' record of $461 million.

``Titanic'' became the all-time top-grosser worldwide last week, smashing the record held by ``Jurassic Park'' when it hit $914 million. Analysts have forecast ``Titanic'' may take in $1.2 billion by the end of its run, particularly if it wins the Best Picture Academy Award as expected on March 23.

In a show of its remarkable drawing power, the U.S. weekend total for ``Titanic'' declined a mere 7 percent from the 10th weekend and took in more than double its nearest rival, New Line's third weekend of ``The Wedding Singer'' with $9.7 million at 2,826 theaters. The Adam Sandler comedy has grossed more than $50 million in 17 days.

`` `Titanic' is helping its competition, because when people go to see it and find the theater sold out, then they go see something like `The Wedding Singer,' even during what's historically been a slow period,'' said analyst Arthur Rockwell of Rockwell Capital Management of Burbank.

``Just like the `Star Wars' trilogy helped everyone else at this time last year, `Titanic' proves that this is a 12-month-a-year business.''

Miramax's ``Good Will Hunting'' finished third with $6.5 million at 2,203 sites to top $96 million after 87 days as it continued to benefit from its nine Oscar nominations. Following in fourth was New Line's opening of the futuristic horror-thriller ``Dark City'' with a respectable $5.7 million at 1,754 theaters.

Sony's 10th weekend of ``As Good As It Gets,'' helped by its seven Oscar nods, finished fifth with $4 million at 1,831 outlets to go past $112 million overall.

``Quality product like `Good Will Hunting' and `As Good As It Gets' continues to track very well,'' Rockwell said.

Warner Bros.' third weekend of ``Sphere'' continued to post disappointing numbers, coming in sixth with $3.8 million at 2,283 locales as the studio yanked the thriller from 576 theaters. Despite the star power of Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone, ``Sphere'' has only a $32.4 million total with dim prospects for much more for Warner, which has seen few hits during the past year.

However, Warner may score decent results next weekend when it opens ``U.S. Marshals'' with Tommy Lee Jones reprising his role from ``The Fugitive.'' Disney's debut of family comedy ``Krippendorf's Tribe,'' starring Richard Dreyfuss, generated relatively little interest in seventh with $3.2 million at 1,529 sites, followed by Miramax's second weekend of ``Senseless'' with $2.9 million at 1,850 theaters and PolyGram's third weekend of ``The Borrowers'' with $2.8 million at 1,606 screens.

Live Entertainment's opening of the murder mystery ``Caught Up,'' starring newcomer Bokeem Woodbine and rappers LL Cool J and Snoop Doggy Dog, finished a lukewarm 10th with $2.5 million at 713 theaters. That edged out Universal's debut of romantic comedy ``Kissing a Fool,'' starring David Schwimmer of ``Friends,'' with $2.3 million at 1,742 theaters, tying it for 11th with October Films' ``The Apostle'' at 751 outlets.

The cast of ``Friends'' has been unable to ignite much interest on the big screen with the exception of Courtney Cox in ``Scream'' and ``Scream 2.''

A pair of limited release films racked up respectable numbers with Warner's ``Dangerous Beauty'' taking in $475,000 at 127 theaters and Paramount's ``The Real Blonde'' with $77,000 at 10 screens. But Disney's much-panned industry satire ``An Alan Smithee Film'' was dead on arrival with $31,000 Sat 19 locations.

``The studios knew a lot of the new films weren't going to do very well, so this was sort of a spring-cleaning weekend to get them out of the way,'' Rockwell said.

Final weekend figures will be released today.

TOP MOVIES

Estimated grosses for the top 10 movies at North American theaters for Friday through Sunday:

1. ``Titanic,'' $19.7 million.

2. ``The Wedding Singer,'' $9.7 million.

3. ``Good Will Hunting,'' $6.5 million.

4. ``Dark City,'' $5.7 million.

5. ``As Good As It Gets,'' $4 million.

6. ``Sphere'' $3.8 million.

7. ``Krippendorf's Tribe,'' $3.2 million.

8. ``Senseless,'' $2.9 million.

9. ``The Borrowers,'' $2.8 million.

10. ``Caught Up,'' $2.5 million.

CAPTION(S):

box

BOX: Top movies (see text)