"Ring Two" Number One

Mon., Mar. 21, 2005 3:40 PM PST by Bridget Byrne

The Ring Two ran rings around the competition.

The tale-of-the-tape sequel to the Hollywood remake of the hugely popular Japanese horror franchise (got that?) scared up $35.1 million, per final studio figures Monday, easily topping the weekend box office.

Dreamworks' PG-13 shocker goes down as the third-best March opener ever, behind a couple of Fox 'toons: Ice Age, which debuted with a mammoth $46.3 million in 2002; and Robots, which was last weekend's number one with $36 million.

With its target audience of young males ignoring the mostly dissing reviews, The Ring Two rung up an average of $10,524 at 3,332 sites. Directed by Hideo Nakata, who helmed the original Japanese hit Ringu, the spooky sequel about a cursed videotape again stars Naomi Watts as the single mom/intrepid journalist who should seriously consider upgrading to Netflix. It outperformed the opening gross of its 2002 predecessor, which tallied $15 million at about 2,000 theaters in its first weekend on its way to $129 million.

The weekend's other major wide release, Disney's Ice Princess, skidded in with just $6.8 million in fourth place.

The G-rated skating flick, starring Michelle Trachtenberg, Hayden Panettiere as rink rivals and Joan Cusack and Kim Cattrall as their moms, couldn't land the sowcow. Targeted at tweens on spring break, Ice Princess averaged a frosty $2,722 at 2,501 theaters.

On the art-house circuit, Melinda and Melinda, Woody Allen's twice-told tale starring Radha Mitchell as the woman whose story is recounted as both a tragedy and comedy, made a big splash. The Fox Searchlight release, costarring Will Ferrell, Chlo? Sevigny and Amanda Peet, played at one very full house in (natch) New York, where it averaged $74,238, an all-time record for a Woody movie and for the distributor. Melinda and Melinda begins its gradual expansion this Wednesday, moving into about 85 sites in 12 cities, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Of the films held over, Fox's Robots proved far from clunky. The CGI droidfest only dropped 42 percent to second place, earning $21 million to bring its current gross to $66.1 million.

Sony, meanwhile, was trumpeting the "fantastic" hold of Hitch, which only dropped 31 percent and remained in fifth place in its sixth week. Will Smith's romantic comedy snagged another $6.5 million to bring its North American haul to $159.3 million and the studio anticipates it will eventually gross $170 million domestically and $300 million worldwide. Dropping even less--just 22 percent--in its 14th week was Warner Bros.' Best Picture Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby. Clint Eastwood's boxing drama, starring Hilary Swank, earned another $4 million in eighth place to bring its total to $89.9 million.

Overall the top 12 films tallied $105.3 million, down about 3 percent from this time last year, but 2 percent better than last weekend.

Here's a rundown of the top-grossing weekend movies based on studio stats compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. The Ring Two, $35.1 million
2. Robots, $21 million
3. The Pacifier, $12.5 million
4. Ice Princess, $6.8 million
5. Hitch, $6.5 million
6. Hostage, $6 million
7. Be Cool, $5.9 million
8. Million Dollar Baby, $4 million
9. Diary of a Mad Black Woman, $2.4 million
10. Constantine, $2.3 million