"XXX" Generates $$$

Vin Diesel's XXX bonded with the now crowd, opening with a $44.5 million to tattoo the two other widely released new films, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams and Clint Eastwood's Blood Work.

Diesel's stunt-heavy spy thriller--in which the bad-ass baldy, bossed by Samuel L. Jackson and sidekicked by Goth glam Asia Argento, takes on an evil empire--tore in as the fourth biggest August opener of all time, behind last year's Rush Hour 2's $67.4 million, last weekend's Signs' $60.1 million and American Pie 2's $45.1 million.

A PG-13 Sony release with a reported budget of $85 million, XXX opened in 3,374 sites with a per-theater average of $13,191, according to final studio tallies. Diesel, who pocketed $10 million for the film, will have his paycheck doubled for the sequel--which was already in the works before XXX's big opening this weekend.

Giving XXX a run for its money was Signs. Mel Gibson's crop circles thriller landed in second place with $29.5 million--about 50 percent off its opening haul.

Meanwhile, the family-fun sequel Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, which debuted Wednesday, earned a fairly perky $16.7 million over the weekend in third place. Blood Work, starring Eastwood as a past-his-sell-by-date cop, trailed in with a limp $7.3 million in fifth place, behind Austin Powers in Goldmember, which racked up another $13.1 million.

Faced with stiff competition, XXX--built around the appeal of Diesel, the hot-shot hunk who hit it big with last year's souped up car culture thriller The Fast and the Furious--was not a major record setter, but did manage to fall in line with Industry forecasts. Heavily hyped by Sony as today's rival to MGM's James Bond (who celebrates his 40th anniversary on the big screen this year), XXX drew nearly 34 percent of the total weekend box office, according to tracking company Exhibitor Relations.

Jeff Blake, president of worldwide marketing and distribution at the Columbia Pictures division of Sony, told Reuters that 60 percent of XXX's audience was under 25. There are plans afoot to tweak the ad campaign to focus on the more positive reviews in hopes of bringing in an older audience and keeping the movie on top for more than just this week.

Dimension's PG-rated Spy Kids 2, in which the whole Cortez family (mom, pop, brother and sister and grandparents) take a fun trip to save the world from baddies and cloned monsters, screened at 3,307 sites and averaged $5,053 per. Warners' R-rated Blood Work, in which Eastwood directs himself as a health-challenged cop who finds he still has the muscle to investigate a murder, played in 2,525 sites and averaged a lower than expected $2,896.

Although Disney's spooky Signs earned about half as much as in its opening week, it still grossed enough to reach $117.7 million after just two weeks, making it the 12th movie this year to cross the $100 million milestone.

In limited release, Fox Search Light's R-rated The Good Girl, the dime-store romance that earned very good reviews for Jennifer Aniston, drew a very, very good $37,911 per screen at just four sites. In two locations, 24 Hour Party People, a recreation of the British post-punk music scene, scored a $17,470 per-screen average at two sites.

The combined gross for the top 12 films was $132.3 million, down 6.5 percent from last weekend, and 11 percent from this time last year.

Here is the rundown of the top 10 weekend movies, according to final studio figures:

1. XXX, $44.5 million
2. Signs, $29.5 million
3. Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, $16.7 million
4. Austin Powers in Goldmember, $13.1 million
5. Blood Work, $7.3 million
6. The Master of Disguise, $5.1 million
7. Road to Perdition, $4.2 million
8. My Big Fat Greek Wedding, $3.13
9. Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat, $3.12 million
10. Stuart Little 2, $2.7 million

(Originally published 8/11/02 at 1:10 p.m. PT.)