Hanks, Gibson Beat 'Traffic'

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” ``The Grinch'' is being packed away with the Christmas ornaments after a great holiday run. Over the weekend, Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson were the big draws at movie theaters.

Monday, January 8th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” ``The Grinch'' is being packed away with the Christmas ornaments after a great holiday run. Over the weekend, Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson were the big draws at movie theaters.

Hanks' ``Cast Away'' was No. 1 at the box office for the third straight weekend, grossing $24.1 million and pushing its total to $143.5 million in just 17 days.

Gibson's romantic comedy ``What Women Want'' stayed in second place with $15.5 million, climbing to $137.8 million in just over three weeks.

The drug-war drama ``Traffic,'' a favorite among critics, was No. 3 with $14.9 million in its first weekend of wide release. Directed by Steven Soderbergh (``Erin Brockovich''), the movie stars Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Toro and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

``Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' finally fell out of the top 10. As usual for many holiday-themed movies, ``The Grinch'' took a big drop the weekend after New Year's Day, grossing $2.4 million, down 67 percent from New Year's weekend.

``The holidays are over, the decorations are coming down, so it sort of made sense that this would happen,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, which tracks the box office. ``They had an incredible run.''

``The Grinch'' was the top-grossing film released in 2000, taking in $257.7 million so far.

The weekend box office overall continued the healthy surge in movie attendance from late last year. The top 12 movies took in $106.2 million, up 31 percent from the same weekend a year ago.

By next weekend, ``Cast Away,'' which reunited Hanks with ``Forrest Gump'' director Robert Zemeckis, should surpass the $155.3 million taken in by Zemeckis' other hit from last year, the ghost story ``What Lies Beneath.''

``Cast Away'' is holding so strongly, down just 22 percent from last weekend, that 20th Century Fox cannot peg how high its final gross will climb, said Bruce Snyder, the studio's head of distribution.

``In all honesty, I thought it would do more like $18 or $19 million this weekend, so I've got to go back and revise all my numbers,'' Snyder said.

Before ``Traffic's'' release, director Soderbergh had worried about the commercial prospects for an issue-driven film with a huge ensemble cast and three complex story lines dealing with the drug trade. But playing in 1,510 theaters, ``Traffic'' averaged a hefty $9,991 a cinema, compared with an $8,167 average in 2,948 locations for ``Cast Away.''

``Traffic'' did well in big urban markets, smaller cities and suburbs, said Jack Foley, senior vice president of distribution for USA Films, which released the movie.

``Given the depth that this thing is playing to, it shows the country really is interested in the issue, that it's an issue that seems to be a sensitive one to Americans,'' Foley said.

Like ``Traffic,'' a number of other movies that opened in narrow release in December for Oscar consideration will expand nationwide next weekend. They include ``Thirteen Days,'' starring Kevin Costner as a Kennedy aide during the Cuban missile crisis, and ``Finding Forrester,'' with Sean Connery as a reclusive author playing mentor to a teen-ager.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures are to be released Monday.

1. ``Cast Away,'' $24.1 million.

2. ``What Women Want,'' $15.5 million.

3. ``Traffic,'' $14.9 million.

4. ``Miss Congeniality,'' $13.8 million.

5. ``The Family Man,'' $9.2 million.

6. ``The Emperor's New Groove,'' $7 million.

7. ``Vertical Limit,'' $5 million.

8. ``Wes Craven Presents'' Dracula 2000,'' $4.2 million.

9. ``Dude, Where's My Car?'', $3.8 million.

10. ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,'' $3.7 million.