The 'Secret''s Out

Just a tiny sophomore slump for Harry Potter. The little wizard returned this weekend with his second movie, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,'' which grossed a magical $87.7 million in its first three days, according to studio estimates.

Usually, sequels outperform their predecessors in their opening weekends. But no one expected ''Chamber of Secrets'' to beat the $90.3 million debut of last year's ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.'' Why? Because coming only a year after the first film, anticipation wasn't at the ridiculously high level that it was last year, when ''Sorcerer's Stone'' broke the record for largest opening weekend ever. (It was later broken again by ''Spider-Man.'') Instead, anticipation was only mildly ridiculously high for ''Chamber of Secrets,'' in part because so many Potter fans were a tad disappointed by the first one. But that obviously didn't matter too much, as the sequel's debut was only off 4 percent from ''Sorcerer's Stone's'' opening. And as for the 2-hour-and-41-minute running time, that certainly limited the number of showings per screen per day, but the film's record-setting opening on over 8,500 screens more than made up for that. Bottom line: barring a huge dropoff next week, this "Harry" should also break the $300 mark domestically.

Speaking of huge dropoffs, after opening last week with $51.2 million, Eminem's drama "8 Mile" plunged 58 percent in its second weekend, placing No. 2 with $21.3 million. Thanks to the film's hype and mostly strong reviews, a smaller decline was expected. But perhaps the drop can be blamed on "8 Mile'''s R rating: Younger moviegoers, usually the fans who see movies multiple times, are blocked from the film. Still, "8 Mile'''s 10-day total stands at an impressive $86.4 million.

Third place went to the family comedy "The Santa Clause 2," which fell 39 percent to $15.1 million. The Tim Allen flick has earned a strong $82.5 million in 17 days. And the nicely-performing thriller "The Ring" fell 29 percent to $11 million, passing the $100 million mark in its fifth week.

The news wasn't so great for Steven Seagal, whose prison thriller "Half Past Dead" was trashed by critics and earned only $8.2 million, placing fifth. Even teaming up with rap stars Ja Rule and Kurupt couldn't help him this time. But one rung down in sixth place, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" grossed another $4.7 million, bringing its total to $199.6 million. On Monday it become the 44th movie ever to cross $200 million. In other words, the $5 million indie will accomplish a feat the $150-million-budgeted "Pearl Harbor" couldn't. Now that's something to celebrate.

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