Mission to Mars rockets to the top

Robert Jablon

The sci-fi thriller “Mission to Mars” blasted to the top of the box office with a dlrs 23.1 million debut after appealing to movie goers starry-eyed for special effects.

Audiences “starved for something that looked like an event picture” pushed it into first place despite scathing reviews, said Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks box office receipts.

“Mission to Mars” stars Tim Robbins, Don Cheadle and Gary Sinise as members of a team sent to rescue the first manned mission to the Red Planet.

“The public voted with their pocketbooks and we were obviously clearly the runaway hit here,” said Chuck Viane, president of distribution for Buena Vista Pictures.

 “Mission” dislodged “The Whole Nine Yards” from the No. 1 spot after three weeks. The hitman comedy tumbled to fourth place with dlrs 5.4 million, according to Sunday estimates. Final figures were expected Monday.

Roman Polanski’s supernatural thriller “The Ninth Gate” debuted in second place with dlrs 6.7 million, followed by “My Dog Skip,” which continued to do well on good word-of-mouth and earned dlrs 6 million.

“American Beauty” and “The Cider House Rules” continued to do well, following their Academy Award nominations. They were in fifth and sixth place, respectively.

“American Beauty,” which grossed dlrs 3.7 million over the weekend and won top honors for acting at the Screen Actors Guild awards Sunday, is expected to reach the dlrs 100 million landmark next weekend.

 “Drowning Mona” fell from fourth to seventh place, grossing dlrs 3.5 million, while Madonna’s “The Next Best Thing” tumbled from second to eighth place with dlrs 3.4 million.   Rounding out the top 10, “Pitch Black” and “Snow Day” tied for ninth place with dlrs 3.1 million.

Carefully placed to avoid competition, “Mission” debuted amid holdover comedies and adult dramas. It had more than a third of the total gross for the weekend’s top 12 pictures, Dergarabedian said.

“It may be the film that jump-starts the box office again,” Dergarabedian said. “We’ve been going in fits and starts... every time we have a big opener, then the following weekend we’re down again.”

“Mission” also was the best movie opening for director Brian De Palma since “Mission: Impossible,” which took in dlrs 45.4 million in a May 1996 debut weekend.

However, “Mission to Mars” could face competition from an upcoming series of high-profile debuts, starting Julia Roberts’ in  “Erin Brokovich” on Friday.

Overall, the top 12 films this weekend grossed dlrs 67 million, compared to dlrs 68.6 million for the same period in 1999.