LOS ANGELES, SEPT 24: A pair of scary movies led the field at the North American box office, while Cameron Crowe's rock `n' roll saga Almost Famous leaped five places to number three in its first wide weekend, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.Opening at No 1 was Urban Legends: Final Cut, a sequel to the 1998 teen thriller Urban Legend. It pulled in $ 8.8 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period from 2,539 theatres across the United States and Canada.A reissue of the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist, featuring digitally enhanced sound, 11 minutes of extra footage and a different ending, opened close behind at No 2 with $ 8.5 million from just 664 theatres, making it the weekend's real winner at the box office.Writer/director Crowe's semi-autobiographical Almost Famous, also set in the 1970s, grossed $ 7 million after increasing its run to 1,193 theatres from 131 last weekend.The box office contained one other new wide release Woman on Top starring Spanish-born actress Penelope Cruz in her first leading role in an English-language film. The fantasy romance opened at No 10 with a disappointing $ 1.9 million.Overall ticket sales fell for the ninth consecutiveweekend, when compared with the year-ago period. But compared to the week-ago period, they broke a lengthy losing streak.Business last weekend was hurt by competition from theSummer Olympics, and particularly the opening ceremony. But U.S. Ratings for the Sports extravaganza have not been stellar because of the lack of major stars and the lengthy time delay of the televised events.Unfortunately for Americans with time on their hands, thestudios planned long ago not to go up against the Olympics with their big guns, said box office analyst Gitesh Pandya at box officeguru.com (boxofficeguru.com). This has created a vacuum, with few films generating a "gotta see" buzz.Rounding out the top five were the Kirsten Dunstcheerleader comedy "Bring It On," down one place to No. 4 with $4.2 million; and the Keanu Reeves serial killer thriller "The Watcher," the box office champ for the previous two weekends, with $3.6 million. Both are released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd ."Urban Legends," starring a no-name cast that slowly getsdispatched at a student film school, received awful reviews, but succeeded in pulling in its target young adult crowd, said a Columbia spokesman. With a reported production budget of $14 million, the film is expected to be profitable.The original opened at No. 3 with $10.5 million exactly twoyears ago and ended up with $38.1 million."The Exorcist" reissue performed "phenomenally," said DanFellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros., which is a unit of Time Warner Inc. . Its average of $12,839 per theatre was easily the highest in the top 10, outpacing the so-so $3,466 tally for "Urban Legends" and solid $5,860 for "Almost Famous."Boosted by strong reviews, the movie played to a slightlyolder crowd, Fellman added. Excluding the three "Star Wars" reissues of 1996, he said "The Exorcist" was the best performing reissue of all time.Now clocking in at 132 minutes, the Linda Blair/Max vonSydow horror swaps director William Friedkin's original grim ending for an audience-friendly one in line with novelist/screenwriter/producer William Peter Blatty's vision.While Blair was channelling the devil a quarter century ago,Crowe was living every kid's fantasy by travelling with demonic rockers Led Zeppelin in his capacity as a teenage scribe for Rolling Stone magazine. He has turned his experiences into "Almost Famous," which stars Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit and Oscar-winner Frances McDormand.The film has grossed $10.3 million after three weekends,and will probably add between 400 and 500 screens next weekend, said Jim Tharp, president of distribution at privately held DreamWorks."We need to get it in the marketplace to get theword-of-mouth out," Tharp said of the well-reviewed film, which is pulling in an older-skewing audience."Woman on Top," in which Cruz plays an amorous TV chef,performed better in big or Latino centres like New York City, Houston and Miami than in midwestern or urban places, said Stephen Gilula, distribution president at Fox Searchlight.After 17 days, "The Watcher" has grossed $22.7 million,while "Bring It On" has $55.9 million after 31 days.
