‘Bring It On’ Brings Out the Crowds

The high school cheerleading comedy “Bring It On” tapped into the lucrative teen, urban and date crowd demographics to win the weekend box-office race with $17.4 million in ticket sales.

The Wesley Snipes action film “The Art of War,” which some Hollywood observers thought might take the top spot, debuted in second place with $10.4 million. Meanwhile, the “GoodFellas”-as-retirees comedy “The Crew” opened with a lackluster $4.1 million for eighth place.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co., predicted that this summer’s overall box office will be off about 7%--$2.78 billion compared to $2.99 billion last summer--when final figures are tabulated.

Weekend Box Office

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Three-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Bring It On” $17.4 2,380 1 (Universal) $17.4 $7,295 2. “The Art of War” $10.4 2,630 1 (Warner Bros.) $10.4 $3,959 3. “The Cell” $9.7 2,430 2 (New Line) $33.7 $3,982 4. “Space Cowboys” $6.5 2,795 4 (Warner Bros.) $63.7 $2,331 5. “The Original Kings of Comedy” $5.9 875 2 (Paramount) $21.2 $6,750 6. “What Lies Beneath” $4.6 2,568 6 (DreamWorks) $130.9 $1,796 7. “The Replacements” $4.08 2,717 3 (Warner Bros.) $30.8 $1,500 8. “The Crew” $4.05 1,510 1 (Disney/Touchstone) $4.1 $2,683 9. “Nutty Professor II” $3.6 2,543 5 (Universal) $110.0 $1,400 10. “Autumn in New York” $3.3 2,260 3 (MGM) $26.8 $1,446

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.