WITCHES' BREW

Halloween came early as Practical Magic's bubbling cauldron spelled toil and trouble for Oprah Winfrey. Moviegoers feeling more bewitched than Beloved were apparently charmed by the pairing of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, whose romantic comedy cast a spell on the top spot with $13.1 million. Meanwhile, producer-star Winfrey's adaptation of Toni Morrison's ghostly novel landed at a disappointing No. 5. No doubt hurt by mixed reviews and the fact that it played on roughly 1,000 fewer screens than the week's other openers, Beloved took in $8.2 million. But Practical Magic wasn't the only film working its box office mojo: Chucky did indeed get lucky as the fourth installment in the Child's Play saga slashed its way to No. 2. In fact, Bride of Chucky's $11.8 million marked the homicidal doll's deadliest debut yet, edging out Child's Play II's $10.7 million bow in 1990. WEEKEND WEEKS WEEKEND NO. OF PER-SITE IN GROSS TOP 20 GROSS* SITES AVERAGE RELEASE TO DATE [**]1 PRACTICAL MAGIC Warner Bros. $13.1 2,652 $4,941 1 $13.1 2 BRIDE OF CHUCKY Universal $11.8 2,412 $4,905 1 $11.8 3 ANTZ DreamWorks $11.2 2,903 $3,863 3 $51.4 4 RUSH HOUR New Line $8.2 2,724 $3,028 5 $109.9 5 BELOVED Touchstone $8.2 1,501 $5,440 1 $8.2 6 WHAT DREAMS MAY COME PolyGram $6.4 2,506 $2,555 3 $41.1 7 A NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY Paramount $3.8 2,169 $1,760 3 $23.4 8 URBAN LEGEND TriStar $2.9 2,063 $1,400 4 $30.9 9 RONIN United Artists $2.8 1,982 $1,415 4 $35.4 10 HOLY MAN Touchstone $2.4 2,013 $1,200 2 $9.0 11 THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY 20th Century Fox $1.9 1,416 $1,320 14 $164.8 12 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN DreamWorks $0.9 851 $1,065 13 $187.7 13 ONE TRUE THING Universal $0.8 1,072 $755 5 $21.8 14 EVEREST IMAX $0.6 63 $10,039 33 $46.5 15 SIMON BIRCH Hollywood $0.6 708 $826 6 $16.3 16 ARMAGEDDON Touchstone $0.5 653 $822 16 $199.6 17 THE NEGOTIATOR Warner Bros. $0.5 734 $715 12 $43.7 18 BLADE New Line $0.4 544 $723 9 $67.7 19 THE IMPOSTORS Fox Searchlight $0.4 162 $2,162 3 $1.2 20 THE MIGHTY Miramax $0.3 129 $2,693 2 $0.5