Cheerleader spoof brings on the movie-goers

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Three cheers for "Bring It On." The spoof about high school pep squads competing for a national championship debuted as the top film at the box office over the weekend with $17.4 million in revenues, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Wesley Snipes' spy thriller "The Art of War," about a United Nations agent caught up in turmoil over China trade relations, premiered in second place with $11.2 million.

The mobster comedy "The Crew," this month's second new movie featuring a geriatric foursome, opened at No. 7 with $4.1 million. The movie stars Richard Dreyfuss, Burt Reynolds, Dan Hedaya and Seymour Cassel.

The other old-timers flick, "Space Cowboys," held strongly at No. 4 with $6.6 million, raising its take to $63.8 million in four weeks. Last weekend's top movie, "The Cell," dropped to third place with $9.6 million.

"Bring It On," starring Kirsten Dunst, had an average gross of $7,311 in 2,380 theaters. "Art of War" averaged $4,259 in 2,630 theaters, and "The Crew" averaged $2,715 in 1,510 locations.

"The girls ruled the box office," Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, which tracks movie attendance, said, referring to the pep squad spoof.

"It had real female appeal, and there's not been a lot this summer targeted at women and girls," he said. "When you starve an audience for something, they will come out and see it when you finally tap into that audience."

"Bring It On" will turn in a decent profit for distributor Universal, since the movie cost just $10 million to make. The movie's success bucks an underachieving box-office trend for other teen satires such as "Election," "Drop Dead Gorgeous" and "Dick." Dunst co-starred in the latter two.

Universal Chairman Stacey Snider said the movie's marketing -- which played up the rivalry between Dunst's white squad and their black hip-hop competitors -- helped broaden the audience for "Bring It On."

"It was that idea, just bring it on," Snider said. "There was an attitude to the marketing campaign that distinguished this film from the sort of vanilla, homogenized teen comedy."

Marc Abraham, one of "Bring It On's" producers, said the movie offered audiences a "bit of a guilty pleasure. It's kind of raucous. It smells like fun, it smells like teen spirit."

After a month of slumping revenues compared to last summer, the top 12 movies this weekend grossed an estimated $75.7 million, virtually dead even with a year ago.

With one weekend left, Hollywood's summer take will come in about $200 million below last year's record $3 billion. That would be the industry's second-best summer ever in terms of revenue, but higher ticket prices mean attendance could be off by 10 to 15 percent over last year, Dergarabedian said.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures are to be released Monday.

1. "Bring It On," $17.4 million.

2. "The Art of War," $11.2 million.

3. "The Cell," $9.6 million.

4. "Space Cowboys," $6.6 million.

5. "The Original Kings of Comedy," $6.1 million.

6. "What Lies Beneath," $4.5 million.

7 (tie). "The Crew," $4.1 million.

7 (tie). "The Replacements," $4.1 million.

9. "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps," $3.3 million.

10. "Autumn In New York," $3.2 million.