A Fortunate "Lemony Snicket"

It was a fortunate weekend at the box office for the folks behind Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events--but the luck didn't extend to all of Hollywood.

Paramount Studio's gothic kiddie fable based on the popular books and starring Jim Carrey as the greedy evil guardian of the Baudelaire orphans was the new number one movie, hauling in $30.1 million over the weekend, according to final studio tallies Monday.

But the other new wide releases crashed and burned.

Adam Sandler's hyped new star turn, Spanglish, could only manage a third-place opening with just $8.8 million, behind last week's top earner, Ocean's Twelve, even though the latter sank 54 percent and only earned $18.1 million.

But Spanglish's spoils were huge compared to Flight of the Phoenix, which completely failed to take off, sputtering in at number eight with just $5 million.

Overall, the combined gross for the top 12 movies was just $99 million, down more than 25 percent from this time last year, whenThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King opened with a whopping $72.6 million.

Although some Industry insiders had expected the $140 million PG-rated Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which aspires to be the next Harry Potter book-to-movie extravaganza franchise, to open a little stronger, it was still good news for Carrey, marking his 12th number one opening. Its per screen average was $8,304.

Wayne Lewellen, Paramount's distribution chief, said the debut was "pretty much in line with what we thought it would do," and noted the exit polls were very favorable. Children 12 and under--apparently no one is too young these days to be polled--particularly liked it. That bodes well for the coming week when kids are out of school and for Christmas and New Year's.

Studios whose productions didn't open so strongly may be taking comfort from the continued business of The Polar Express. Warners' animated holiday flick didn't get good reviews and failed to make a blockbuster opening-weekend splash, but it's kept chugging along. Now in its sixth week, it remained in fourth place with $8.4 million to bring its total to $123.4 million.

Sony, which released the PG-13 rated Spanglish, a domestic dramedy starring Sandler, Téa Leoni and Spanish actress Paz Vega, believes that like previous movies directed by James L. Brooks, the film will take time to find its audience. Exit polls show adult and female audiences responding very positively.

Fox distribution chief Bruce Snyder was honest about being disappointed with Flight of the Phoenix, but he stressed that receipts were down across the board. The PG-13 adventure stars Dennis Quaid in a remake of a 1965 James Stewart film about plane crash survivors stranded in the desert. The film played best with male audiences and an older crowd.

In limited release, a couple of key Golden Globes contenders opened successfully.

The Aviator, the Howard Hughes biopic headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio and an all-star cast, opened in 40 theaters, including some in celebrity ski spots where Oscar voters are likely to be vacationing. The Miramax PG-13 release, directed by Martin Scorsese, averaged. $21,451 for $858,021.

Just as promising was Million Dollar Baby, the boxing saga directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and featuring Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. The critically praised PG-13 Warners release averaged $22,494 at just eight sites for $179,953.

"It is very satisfying when a non-high-concept work like this finds an appreciative audience," said producer Albert S. Ruddy, who shepherded to the screen the emotionally charged film based on a short story by the late ringside "cut man" Jerry Boyd (who wrote under the name F.X. Toole). "I only feel sorry that I didn't provide each person in the theater with a handkerchief to weep into."

Maybe weeping for a different reason is Kevin Spacey. His performance as crooner Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea may have earned him a Golden Globe nomination, but the movie doesnÂ?t seem to have audiences swooning. It only averaged $7,544 at six sites for a middling total of $45,264.

Holding up very strongly, though still only at two sites, was The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou with $100,595. The multiple Globe nominee Sideways notched another strong weekend, tallying $1.5 million at 424 sites in its sixth week.

Paul Degarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations, said audience attendance is still down about 2 percent from last year so the industry is hoping ticket buyers will increase once Christmas really arrives. But with Christmas Eve falling on a Friday, the take might again suffer next weekend, when Meet the Fockers and Fat Albert enter the fray and The Aviator expands.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films as compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, $30.1 million.
2. Ocean's Twelve, $18.1 million
3. Spanglish, $8.8 million
4. The Polar Express, $8.4 million
5. Blade: Trinity, $6.8 million
6. National Treasure, $6 million
7. Christmas with the Kranks, $5.4 million
8. Flight of the Phoenix, $5 million
9. Closer, $3.4 million
10. The Incredibles, $3.1 million

(Originally published Dec. 19, 2004 at 4:30 p.m. PT.)