<i>The Best Man</i> <u>Is</u> Box Office Best
Moviegoers packed theaters for The Best Man as if flocking to a favorite cousin's wedding, lifting the comedy to a first-place debut at a crowded weekend box office.
The Best Man, starring Taye Diggs in a romantic wedding romp, took in $9.1 million in its opening weekend, according to industry estimates Sunday.
Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead had a so-so opening weekend with $6.2 million for fourth place. Crazy in Alabama, directed by Antonio Banderas and starring wife Melanie Griffith, premiered dismally with $1 million to finish well out of the top 10.
Bats, about swarms of killer-winged things on a rampage in a Texas town, opened in seventh place with $4.7 million. Three to Tango, a romantic comedy with Neve Campbell, Matthew Perry and Dylan McDermott, was eighth with $4.6 million.
Earlier releases still crowded the field, cutting into business for new films. Double Jeopardy remained the No. 2 movie, grossing $7.7 million in its fifth weekend, pushing its total take up to $91 million.
Last weekend's top film, Fight Club, fell to third place with $6.3 million. The Story of Us was No. 5 with $5.5 million and American Beauty placed sixth with $5.4 million.
"Double Jeopardy is still siphoning off that mature audience so many of the fall films go after," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks movie ticket sales. "It's making it tough for some of these newcomers to break in."
The Best Man had the broadest appeal of all the weekend's new movies, with universal themes about the "hesitancy of men to commit and that bachelor party thing," Dergarabedian said.
Co-produced by Spike Lee and written and directed by his cousin Malcolm D. Lee, the movie stars Diggs as a writer who is best man at a friend's wedding. Bedlam breaks loose when a bridesmaid, played by Nia Long, obtains an advance copy of Diggs' steamy novel that borrows heavily from the lives of the wedding party.
The weekend audience for Best Man was 80 percent to 85 percent black, but "the movie did very well across the board," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, which released the film. "It played well with the white community."
The film played in just 1,346 theaters and averaged $6,761 a screen. Double Jeopardy was on 3,002 screens and averaged $2,565, while Bringing Out the Dead opened in 1,936 cinemas and averaged $3,202.
Scorsese's movie drew more of a niche crowd for those who like their movies gritty and a bit depressing. Bringing Out the Dead stars Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette in a maniacally paced drama about a New York City paramedic on the verge of a breakdown.
"It really plays strongly in urban markets, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and not as strong in the smaller markets," said Wayne Lewellen, distribution president fo Paramount, which released Bringing Out the Dead.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations. Final figures were to be released Monday.
- The Best Man, $9.1 million.
- Double Jeopardy, $7.7 million
- Fight Club, $6.3 million.
- Bringing Out the Dead, $6.2 million.
- The Story of Us, $5.5 million.
- American Beauty, $5.4 million.
- Bats, $4.7 million.
- Three to Tango, $4.6 million.
- The Sixth Sense, $4.3 million.
- Three Kings, $4.29 million.
By David Germain