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'The Ring' Reigns at North American Box Office By Dean Goodman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - One thriller replaced another at the top of the North American weekend box office, while two other new releases bombed. The picture, which stars up-and-coming Australian actress Naomi Watts, ended the two-week reign of "Red Dragon." The Hannibal Lecter thriller, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins (news), slipped to No. 3 with $8.8 million. "Sweet Home Alabama" held steady at No. 2 with $9.6 million. Rounding out the top five: romantic comedy "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" rose one place to No. 4 with $7.2 million; the urban romance "Brown Sugar" and rookie suspense drama "Abandon" tied at No. 5 with $5.3 million. The third new release, "Formula 51," a British crime drama starring Samuel L. Jackson (news) at No. 12 with $2.9 million. Box office receipts rose for the sixth consecutive weekend, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The top 12 films grossed $74.2 million, up two percent from the year-ago weekend, but down 21 percent from last weekend. "FUN AND SCARY MOVIE" "The Ring," an English-language remake of the 1998 Japanese film "Ringu," was released by DreamWorks SKG. Pre-release tracking surveys had forecast an opening in the $9 million to $11 million range, said Jim Tharp, the closely held studio's distribution president. "It seemed people were in the mood for a fun and scary movie," Tharp said. "The audience had goosebumps on goosebumps, but they had fun with it." The $43 million film also stars New Zealand actor Martin Henderson. Watts is best known for her role in David Lynch (news)'s "Mulholland Dr." and as a friend of compatriot Nicole Kidman (news). "The Ring" marks the second consecutive No. 1 for director Gore Verbinski after last year's "The Mexican." After four weekends, the total for Reese Witherspoon (news) romantic comedy "Sweet Home Alabama" stands at $98.5 million. The film was released by Touchstone Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co . "Red Dragon" rose to $77.8 million after three weekends, and should reach the century mark, said officials at Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA . "My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the most successful independent movie in history, rose to $169 million after 27 weekends. It was released by IFC Films, a unit of Cablevision Systems Corp . DISAPPOINTING DUO "Abandon," starring Katie Holmes (news) as a college student haunted by her memories of a vanished first boyfriend, was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc . A studio spokeswoman termed the opening "disappointing." But its financial exposure to the $20 million production was limited. The film was funded mostly by closely held producer Spyglass Entertainment. The film marks the feature directing debut of Stephen Gaghan, who won an Academy Award last year for his "Traffic" screenplay. Similarly, the disappointing bow of "Formula 51" will not drain the coffers at Screen Gems, the mid-budget arm of Sony Corp (news - web sites).'s Columbia Pictures unit. The studio has only U.S. rights for the film, which is known as "The 51st State" overseas. "Brown Sugar," down two places from its opening last weekend, has $18.6 million in the bank; it was released by Fox Searchlight, a unit of News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment Group Inc. New releases next weekend include "Jackass: The Movie," "Ghost Ship" and "The Truth About Charlie." Elsewhere, Sony reported its Vin Diesel (news) action movie "XXX" opened at No. 1 in nine foreign markets this weekend, including Britain, Germany and France. Its worldwide total to date rose to $200 million, and is forecast to end up at $300 million. |
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