Movie Revenues Hit All-Time High

Monday, November 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) â€” Recipe for a record-breaking holiday at the movies: Mix one Grinch, a real-life superman, a bunch of Rugrats and all those spotted puppies. Add a dash of Marquis de Sade.

Hollywood revenues hit an all-time high for Thanksgiving weekend, with the top 12 movies grossing $236.3 million, surpassing the previous record of $225.5 million set for all movies a year ago, according to studio estimates Sunday. It also marked a new revenue record for any holiday weekend.

By the time final numbers are in Monday, box-office totals for the five-day holiday should easily top $250 million.

``Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' remained No. 1 for the second straight weekend, taking in $73.8 million from Wednesday to Sunday. The Jim Carrey flick, directed by Ron Howard, has grossed $137.4 million in just 10 days.

Debuting in second place was ``Unbreakable,'' which reteamed ``The Sixth Sense'' writer-director M. Night Shyamalan with star Bruce Willis. ``Unbreakable,'' a dark fantasy about a man who learns he may possess comic-book superpowers, took in $47.2 million.

``Unbreakable'' had a better opening weekend than ``The Sixth Sense'' but is unlikely to have the sort of repeat business of its predecessor, which grossed nearly $300 million.

Taking third place was ''102 Dalmatians'' with $26.8 million. The animated ``Rugrats in Paris: The Movie'' held well in its second weekend, finishing at No. 4 with $22.8 million.

''102 Dalmatians,'' starring Glenn Close, fell far short of ''101 Dalmatians,'' which took in $45.1 million over Thanksgiving in 1996.

``It's a normal sequel situation,'' said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which released ''102 Dalmatians'' along with ``Unbreakable.'' ``I believe the overwhelming success of `The Grinch' held back both ourselves and `Rugrats' a bit.''

In limited release, the comically brutish Marquis de Sade drama ``Quills'' debuted to huge audiences. The film grossed $314,000 in just nine theaters, averaging a spectacular $34,889 a cinema, compared with $23,548 in 3,134 theaters for ``The Grinch'' and $17,430 in 2,708 theaters for ``Unbreakable.''

Brian Grazer, Howard's producing partner at Imagine Entertainment, said he had expected ``Unbreakable'' to bump ``The Grinch'' from the top spot and was ``just shocked out of my mind'' at how well the Seuss movie held up.

``Every demographic just seems to love the movie and continue to show up and tell their friends to go see it,'' Grazer said. ``That's largely attributable to Ron Howard. Somehow, in whatever genre, he's able to reach the sensibilities of a really wide film-going public.''

The three family movies, ``Grinch,'' ``Rugrats'' and ``Dalmatians,'' accounted for almost $125 million in ticket sales alone.

``This was the weekend of all weekends for family films,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, which tracks the box office. ``I've never really seen anything like this. It proves how strong the family contingent is in terms of box-office clout.''

``Quills'' and ``Unbreakable'' were scheduled for Thanksgiving debuts to give adults more choices amid all the family fare in theaters.

``It's great to see that a demanding, provocative film like `Quills' can find an audience even in the midst of a weekend like this,'' said Steve Gilula, head of distribution for Fox Searchlight, which released ``Quills.''

Starring Geoffrey Rush, ``Quills'' was directed by Philip Kaufman, who made ``Henry & June,'' the first film released under an NC-17 rating. ``Quills'' expands to more theaters in mid-December.

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

1. ``Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas,'' $73.8 million.

2. ``Unbreakable,'' $47.2 million.

3. ''102 Dalmatians,'' $26.8 million.

4. ``Rugrats in Paris: The Movie,'' $22.8 million.

5. ``Charlie's Angels,'' $14 million.

6. ``Bounce,'' $11 million.

7. ``The 6th Day,'' $10.2 million.

8. ``Men of Honor,'' $9.3 million.

9. ``Meet the Parents,'' $9 million.

10. ``Little Nicky,'' $6.5 million.

Movie Revenues Hit All-Time High

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