GRAND FINALE 'RINGS' IN END OF RECORD YEAR.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Moviegoers flocked to the nation's theaters over the final weekend of 2001 and ended what has been a record-shattering year for the movie industry with an exclamation point.

New Line Cinema's fantasy epic, ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,'' fended off all challengers and is proving itself to be the real heavyweight champ of the holiday season.

``Rings'' retained the No. 1 spot with an estimated three-day gross of $37.4 million and has earned a total of $154.5 million in ticket sales since its release Dec. 19.

``Rings'' easily topped Sony's ``Ali,'' which took in an estimated $15.3 million to land in third place behind Warner Bros.' increasingly durable ``Ocean's Eleven.''

``Ocean's'' took in an estimated $17.4 million, an 18 percent jump in business, which led the casino-heist film to a second-place finish for the third straight week.

In all, the top 12 movies took in an estimated $147.6 million, an increase of 21 percent from the previous weekend and up 20 percent from the comparable weekend last year.

Many family oriented releases, especially ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' and ``Monsters, Inc.,'' experienced tremendous surges in business.

``What a great way to end the year - with so many films doing so well in a marketplace tailor-made for movie buffs,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. ``Last weekend, people were busy with the holiday, and there were a lot more distractions. Now moviegoers are catching up with all of the great films that are out there.''

The domestic box office is at a record $8.35 billion, easily surpassing the record of $7.7 billion set last year.

But even more impressive, 2001 is expected at least to tie the modern- day record of tickets sold: 1.48 billion in 1997.

Dergarabedian estimates that, through today, 1.49 billion movie tickets have been sold in 2001, but he said the calculation cannot be confirmed until final figures are released by the industry in March.

``Ocean's Eleven'' and ``The Lord of the Rings'' are the 16th and 17th films to cross the $100 million mark this year - with ``Rings'' turning into a box office phenomenon that will play well into 2002.

``This is only about word-of-mouth at this point,'' said Russell Schwartz, president of domestic marketing for New Line.

``You can't ask for anything more. Audiences are going to see this movie, they are liking it, and they are telling everybody else about it. Our exit polls are showing that we are starting to get repeat viewers,'' Schwartz said.

``Ocean's,'' with an all-star cast of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Matt Damon, has grossed an impressive $128.2 million in just over three weeks. Its continued popularity was enough to relegate ``Ali'' to third place after that movie set a new Christmas Day record of $10.2 million last week.

The film about the legendary boxing champ, starring Will Smith, has earned $35.3 million in its first six days of release.

``I think that's a very strong start, and we have several good weeks ahead,'' said Jeff Blake, president of worldwide marketing and distribution for Sony. ``It's No. 3 behind the acknowledged Christmas blockbusters. We're behind them and ahead of everything else.''

While it only ranked eighth place overall, one of the biggest winners was Universal's ``A Beautiful Mind,'' which averaged an amazing $13,785 per screen for a weekend tally of $7.2 million on only 520 screens.

Directed by Ron Howard, ``Mind'' stars Russell Crowe as real-life math genius John Nash, who overcame schizophrenia and went on to win a Nobel Prize.

The film will add another 1,600 screens or so next month, said Universal Pictures Distribution President Nikki Rocco.

``The strategy is working,'' Rocco said of the limited release. ``I think people are liking what they see. It's a movie they can be inspired by.''

Rocco said exit polls show that 95 percent of patrons are rating the film as either excellent or very good.

Paramount's ``Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius'' is shaping up as a solid hit, finishing in fourth place with an estimated gross of $15 million. The film has earned $42.1 million to date.

Another Paramount movie, ``Vanilla Sky,'' dropped to fifth place with estimated ticket sales of $11.5 million, just a 5 percent drop from the week before. The Tom Cruise film, written and directed by Cameron Crowe, has earned $66.5 million to date.

With kids out of school, business for this year's overall box office champ, ``Harry Potter,'' was up a brisk 61 percent and pushed the film to No. 6. The movie about a boy wizard and his friends brought in an additional $11.4 million and has earned an astounding $286.1 million so far.

Disney's ``Monsters, Inc.'' had an even bigger jump in business over the weekend - 71 percent - as it brought in $6.5 million for a ninth-place finish and a cumulative gross of $236.2 million.

The holiday season's lone romantic comedy, ``Kate & Leopold,'' came in seventh for the weekend with an estimated $9.5 million in ticket sales. Starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, the Miramax film has grossed $17 million since its Christmas Day opening.

Rounding out the top 10 is Warner Bros.' ``The Majestic,'' starring Jim Carrey in a rare dramatic role. Business for the film actually climbed by 15 percent during the weekend to earn $5.6 million, but the movie has grossed a disappointing $15.7 million to date.

TOP MOVIES

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

1. ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,'' $37.4 million.

2. ``Ocean's Eleven,'' $17.4 million.

3. ``Ali,'' $15.3 million.

4. ``Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius,'' $15 million.

5. ``Vanilla Sky,'' $11.5 million.

6. ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,'' $11.46 million.

7. ``Kate & Leopold,'' $9.5 million.

8. ``A Beautiful Mind,'' $7.2 million.

9. ``Monsters, Inc.'', $6.5 million.

10. ``The Majestic,'' $5.6 million.

CAPTION(S):

box

Box:

TOP MOVIES (see text)