He's been demoted to minor-league hitman in Donnie Brasco, but 25 years after playing Don Corleone's best and brightest in that granddaddy of all Mafia movies, The Godfather, Al Pacino's still got box office muscle. The Empire Strikes Back held on to No. 1, but Brasco showed its strength, with the best per-screen tally of the top 20. Its $11.7 million opening means it's outpacing gangland sagas Casino (whose first three days garnered $9.9 million) and Bugsy ($4.6 million), as well as 1995's stylish Pacino pic Heat ($8.4 million). Al's young costar, Johnny Depp, may have helped Brasco's cause. Brasco certainly helps Depp's: It's his best debut ever.
TOP 20 WEEKEND GROSS WEEKS GROSS* TO DATE IN RELEASE
1 $13.1 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: SPECIAL EDITION 20th Century Fox, Harrison Ford $262.9 2 2 $11.7 DONNIE BRASCO TriStar, Johnny Depp $11.7 1 3 $6.9 STAR WARS: SPECIAL EDITION 20th Century Fox, Mark Hamill $447.8 5 4 $6.4 BOOTY CALL Columbia, Jamie Foxx $8.0 1 5 $5.7 ABSOLUTE POWER Castle Rock, Clint Eastwood $36.9 3 6 $5.3 DANTE'S PEAK Universal, Pierce Brosnan $52.3 4 7 $4.6 VEGAS VACATION Warner Bros., Chevy Chase $27.3 3 8 $3.6 FOOLS RUSH IN Columbia, Matthew Perry $21.4 3 9 $3.3 MARVIN'S ROOM Miramax, Diane Keaton $5.4 11 10 $2.9 ROSEWOOD Warner Bros., Ving Rhames $7.2 2 11 $2.6 JERRY MAGUIRE TriStar, Tom Cruise $135.1 12 12 $2.5 THAT DARN CAT Walt Disney, Christina Ricci $14.3 3 13 $2.2 THE ENGLISH PATIENT Miramax, Ralph Fiennes $54.7 16 14 $2.2 SHINE Fine Line, Geoffrey Rush $26.1 15 15 $1.3 SCREAM Dimension, Neve Campbell $83.3 11 16 $1.0 MICHAEL New Line, John Travolta $87.4 10 17 $0.9 SLING BLADE Miramax, Billy Bob Thornton $3.2 14 18 $0.8 LOST HIGHWAY October, Bill Pullman $1.1 2 19 $0.8 EVITA Hollywood/Cinergi, Madonna $47.5 10 20 $0.5 SECRETS & LIES October, Brenda Blethyn $8.8 23
TOP 10 / PER SCREEN
WEEKEND NO. OF PER-SCREEN SCREENS AVERAGE [**] [***]
1 $7,758 DONNIE BRASCO TriStar 1,503 2 $6,224 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 20th Century Fox 2,112 3 $5,720 SLING BLADE Miramax 154 4 $5,055 BOOTY CALL Columbia 1,272 5 $4,004 LOST HIGHWAY October 208 6 $2,936 ROSEWOOD Warner Bros. 991 7 $2,887 STAR WARS 20th Century Fox 2,375 8 $2,819 MARVIN'S ROOM Miramax 1,153 9 $2,231 ABSOLUTE POWER Castle Rock 2,568 10 $2,202 VEGAS VACATION Warner Bros. 2,070
