They don't call it the Ring of Power for nothing. ''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' racked up $61.5 million over the weekend, beating not only its box office competitors, but its own predecessor as well. ''The Two Towers,'' which opened Wednesday, made a total of $101.5 over the week, while last year's ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' made $75 million in its first week (and $47.2 million over its first weekend), according to published reports.
In any case, ''The Two Towers'' – already nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture -- easily bested the week's No. 2 movie, the Hugh Grant/Sandra Bullock comedy ''Two Weeks Notice,'' which opened with a better-than-expected $14.4 million. Meanwhile, last week's No. 1, J. Lo's ''Maid in Manhattan,'' slipped to No. 3 with $11 million.
Martin Scorsese's long-delayed, much-discussed ''Gangs of New York'' was the weekend's No. 4 movie, scoring $9.1 million in limited release. Its per-screen average was an encouraging $6,064 -- higher than ''Two Weeks'''s $5,229 average, but way below ''The Two Towers''' phenomenal $16,980. ''Gangs'' will get a wider release on Christmas.
The rest of the top 10 was: ''Drumline'' ($7.6 million) at No. 5, ''The Wild Thornberrys Movie'' ($6.1 million) at No. 6, ''The Hot Chick'' ($4.5 million) at No. 7, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' ($4.46 million) at No. 8, ''Star Trek: Nemesis'' ($4.4 million) at No. 9, and ''Die Another Day'' ($4 million) at No. 10.
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