It's been 54 years since the invasion of Normandy, but last weekend looked like D-Day at the multiplex -- that's D as in dough. Despite nearly unanimous hosannas from critics, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan still managed to catch many box office analysts off guard as it stormed the weekend beachhead with a $30.6 million opening salvo -- especially impressive considering the grisly WWII drama's well-deserved R rating, nearly three-hour running time (which translates into fewer screenings), and a delivery snafu that left more than 100 theaters without a print to show on Friday. Another kind of D-Day -- that's D as in disgusting -- was launched by There's Something About Mary, which dropped off a mere 9 percent in its second week to hold on to the No. 4 spot.
NO. OF WEEKEND WEEKS GROSS WEEKEND SITES PER-SITE IN TO TOP 20 GROSS* [**] AVERAGE RELEASE DATE
1 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN DreamWorks $30.6 2,463 $12,414 1 $30.6 2 THE MASK OF ZORRO TriStar $13.4 2,515 $5,334 2 $47.3 3 LETHAL WEAPON 4 Warner Bros. $13.1 3,117 $4,217 3 $94.6 4 THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY 20th Century Fox $12.5 2,188 $5,731 2 $40.9 5 ARMAGEDDON Touchstone $11.2 3,127 $3,569 4 $149.6 6 DR. DOLITTLE 20th Century Fox $7.3 2,509 $2,908 5 $118.0 7 DISTURBING BEHAVIOR MGM/UA $7.1 1,842 $3,839 1 $7.1 8 MAFIA! Touchstone $6.6 1,942 $3,387 1 $6.6 9 SMALL SOLDIERS DreamWorks $5.3 2,512 $2,117 3 $40.5 10 MULAN Walt Disney $3.5 1,705 $2,063 6 $108.1 11 MADELINE TriStar $2.7 1,733 $1,579 3 $21.6 12 TITANIC Paramount $1.5 839 $1,760 32 $593.2 13 EVEREST IMAX $1.0 62 $16,466 21 $30.3 14 THE TRUMAN SHOW Paramount $1.0 1,155 $881 8 $122.0 15 SIX DAYS, SEVEN NIGHTS Touchstone $1.0 961 $1,053 7 $69.6 16 THE X-FILES 20th Century Fox $1.0 955 $1,047 6 $80.3 17 OUT OF SIGHT Universal $0.8 772 $1,090 5 $35.6 18 HOPE FLOATS 20th Century Fox $0.6 593 $967 9 $56.4 19 A PERFECT MURDER Warner Bros. $0.4 353 $1,108 8 $66.7 20 SMOKE SIGNALS Miramax $0.4 115 $3,286 5 $1.8
SOURCE: EXHIBITOR RELATIONS CO. INC. WEEKEND OF JULY 24-26 *WEEKEND GROSS AND GROSS-TO-DATE FIGURES IN MILLIONS [**] INCLUDES SOME MULTISCREEN THEATERS AND PRINTS SHIPPED AS WELL AS INDIVIDUAL SCREENS
