GOING FOR BOX OFFICE SILVER 3 STUDIOS VIE FOR 2ND PLACE AS FINISH LINE APPROACHES IN POPULARITY COMPETITION.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

With a dream movie season highlighted by a staggering $405.7 million domestic gross for ``Spider-Man,'' Sony Pictures Entertainment is already the year's undisputed box office champ.

But with less than a month left to go in the 2002 movie season, the contest for second place has become an intriguing one, with Disney, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. locked into a tight battle for runner-up honors.

``You don't know where the rest of the order is going to fall,'' said Dan Marks, executive vice president of box office tracker Nielsen EDI. ``There is still possibility for some wiggling here. I don't think the orders are safe.''

In terms of both market share figures reported by Nielsen EDI and cumulative grosses of 2002 releases compiled by Exhibitor Relations Co., Disney is currently in second place, with 20th Century Fox third and Warner Bros. fourth, respectively.

But the box office returns over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday were a crucial indicator for the year's final rankings and Warner Bros. appears to have the momentum to come from behind with the monster success of ``Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,'' which passed the $200 million mark in just 17 days.

Last year, ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' helped lead the studio to a first-place finish.

``We are thrilled that we are in the position to break the $1 billion barrier, which we will have done three out of the last four years,'' said Dan Fellman, head of Warner Bros. distribution. ``We came from behind last year and while Sony has had a fantastic year this year, we are also in position to have a very strong holiday.''

As ``Chamber'' continues to bring in big audiences, Warner Bros. today released the Robert De Niro-Billy Crystal comedy ``Analyze That,'' a sequel to the 1999 hit ``Analyze This.'' Two weeks later, the studio releases another high-profile comedy, ``Two Weeks Notice,'' that pairs Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant for the first time.

``Both films have tested extremely well and we are looking forward to big results,'' Fellman said.

Disney had put itself into contention for second place with a string of major hits starting with the animated ``Lilo & Stitch'' ($142.7 million), the Mel Gibson suspense-thriller ``Signs'' ($226.4 million), and the Reese Witherspoon comedy ``Sweet Home Alabama'' ($123.4 million). These followed the solid spring hit ``The Rookie'' ($75.6 million) and the winter comedy ``Snow Dogs'' ($81.1 million).

``For us, it's been a year of extreme consistency,'' said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution. ``We kept the real highs and the real lows out of it.''

Disney's comedy hit ``The Santa Clause 2'' is holding strong and has grossed $113.6 million so far, but the studio suffered a major blow with the disastrous opening of its highly-anticipated animated film, ``Treasure Planet.''

The costly production managed to make only $16.6 million during its opening five-day Thanksgiving weekend and Disney announced this week that it would be forced to take a $47 million loss on the movie. The studio now has only the Dec. 13 release of its Rob Schneider comedy, ``The Hot Chick,'' to add significantly to its 2002 box office total.

``We'd love to be number two but that's not the end-all be-all,'' Viane said. ``We crossed the $1 billion mark just before Thanksgiving and for us, every year the goal is to make it to $1 billion. This makes it the seventh time in nine years.''

At 20th Century Fox, the George Clooney-starring film ``Solaris'' tanked during its debut weekend, making a mere $9.4 million over the Thanksgiving period. But the studio has the year's second highest-grossing movie, ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones,'' which has grossed $308.7 million to date. This, along with the surprise smash ``Ice Age'' ($176.4 million) and the Steven Spielberg-directed Tom Cruise film ``Minority Report'' ($132 million), have kept it in the running for second place.

``Sony are the big guys on the block this year and everyone is vying for number two,'' admitted Bruce Snyder, president of distribution at 20th Century Fox. ``But it's been a great year for us with a lot of successes and just a couple of bumps in the road.''

Still to come from Fox are ``Drumline,'' which bows Dec. 13, and Denzel Washington's directorial debut, ``Antwone Fisher,'' which hits theaters on Dec. 20.

For the first time, Fox asked that the grosses of its specialty arm, Fox Searchlight, be figured into the studio's overall market share and grosses. As a result, such films as ``One Hour Photo,'' ``The Banger Sisters,'' ``Brown Sugar'' and ``The Good Girl'' are included in Fox's 2002 totals.

Some studios with specialty arms such as Universal Focus and Paramount Classics do not add those grosses to their overall totals but Snyder said the large volume of Fox Searchlight releases warranted such a change. Totals from New Line's Fine Line Pictures and MGM's United Artists are also included in those studios yearly totals.

For Sony, the race for first place was essentially won back in August when the studio set an all-time record for domestic box office grosses in a single year. In addition to ``Spider-Man,'' The studio also had major success with ``Men in Black II,'' ``XXX,'' ``Mr. Deeds'' and ``Panic Room.''

As its closest competitors try to get an edge in the waning weeks of the year, Sony itself has not had a major hit since summer, with such films as ``Stuart Little 2,'' ``I-Spy,'' ``Swept Away'' and ``Half Past Dead'' either performing below expectations or downright bombing.

But the studio's lead appears to be too big for anyone to catch.

``Sony is definitely number one,'' said Marks.

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STUDIO SWEEPSTAKES: THE RACE FOR RUNNER-UP

Source: Exhibitor Relations Co.

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist