Now it's on to the prequels. Return of the Jedi, the closing chapter in the Star Wars trilogy, surprised nobody by opening in first place. Its debut take was smaller than either of its predecessors', but with The Empire Strikes Back in fifth place and Star Wars in ninth, George Lucas still rules 1997's box office. Combined, the three rereleases have grossed $209.9 million. Meanwhile, back on earth, Jungle2Jungle held on at No. 2, falling just 15 percent, Private Parts dropped 40 percent, and love jones, one of the week's true new arrivals, bowed in sixth place -- considering the competition, no easy move.
TOP 20
WEEKEND GROSS WEEKS IN GROSS* TO DATE RELEASE
1 $16.3 RETURN OF THE JEDI: SPECIAL EDITION 20th Century Fox, Carrie Fisher $280.0 1 2 $10.9 JUNGLE2JUNGLE Walt Disney, Tim Allen $27.2 2 3 $8.7 PRIVATE PARTS Paramount, Howard Stern $27.6 2 4 $5.4 DONNIE BRASCO TriStar, Johnny Depp $31.3 3 5 $5.1 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: SPECIAL EDITION 20th Century Fox, Harrison Ford $282.2 4 6 $3.9 LOVE JONES New Line, Nia Long $3.9 1 7 $3.0 SLING BLADE Miramax, Billy Bob Thornton $8.4 16 8 $2.4 ABSOLUTE POWER Castle Rock, Clint Eastwood $45.6 5 9 $2.3 STAR WARS: SPECIAL EDITION 20th Century Fox, Mark Hamill $456.8 7 10 $2.1 BOOTY CALL Columbia, Jamie Foxx $17.1 3 11 $2.0 DANTE'S PEAK Universal, Pierce Brosnan $59.8 6 12 $1.9 THE ENGLISH PATIENT Miramax, Ralph Fiennes $60.3 18 13 $1.9 JERRY MAGUIRE TriStar, Tom Cruise $140.6 14 14 $1.6 VEGAS VACATION Warner Bros., Chevy Chase $32.9 5 15 $1.5 MARVIN'S ROOM Miramax, Diane Keaton $10.9 13 16 $1.5 FOOLS RUSH IN Columbia, Matthew Perry $26.8 5 17 $1.4 SHINE Fine Line, Geoffrey Rush $30.8 17 18 $1.0 ROSEWOOD Warner Bros., Ving Rhames $11.4 4 19 $0.8 CITY OF INDUSTRY Orion, Harvey Keitel $0.8 1 20 $0.8 MICHAEL New Line, John Travolta $89.5 12
TOP 10/PER SCREEN
WEEKEND NO. OF PER-SCREEN SCREENS AVERAGE[**] [***] 1 $7,718 RETURN OF THE JEDI 20th Century Fox 2,111 2 $4,767 LOVE JONES New Line 820 3 $4,708 JUNGLE2JUNGLE Walt Disney 2,323 4 $4,074 PRIVATE PARTS Paramount 2,138 5 $3,401 DONNIE BRASCO TriStar 1,593 6 $3,183 SLING BLADE Miramax 951 7 $2,208 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 20th Century Fox 2,322 8 $1,974 THE ENGLISH PATIENT Miramax 963 9 $1,922 JERRY MAGUIRE TriStar 977 10 $1,858 BOOTY CALL Columbia 1,154
