‘Mummy’ Easily Defends Its Turf Against Rookie ‘Knight’

Even with a tumble of more than 50% from its lofty $68-million opening, “The Mummy Returns” was still solid as the Rock, wrestling an estimated $32.2 million its second weekend, on 3,410 screens, almost double the premiere of “A Knight’s Tale.”

The large drop was expected, considering that sequels usually open stronger than originals and decline more sharply. Still, with a 10-day total of almost $117 million, the return of the “Mummy” should surpass the original, released two years ago, which grossed just over $150 million. Whether it can sustain business long enough to cross the $200-million threshold, however, depends on how well it holds up against the films opening over the next two weekends, in particular “Shrek” and “Pearl Harbor.”

It will also be interesting to note the effect on sequels of the economic downturn (to which sequels are particularly vulnerable), which could have an effect on summer attendance patterns overall.

The rock ‘n’ roll-infused medieval adventure “A Knight’s Tale,” starring Australian actor Heath Ledger, got off to a promising start--at least with its core audience. The estimated $17-million premiere on 2,980 screens is good, especially for a film with no big box office names. Aimed squarely at the young female audience (60% of the audience was younger than 25, and 55% of it female) “Knight” delivered, though the attendance bump from Friday’s opening night (with its disproportionate youth attendance) to Saturday (when more adults fill the seats) was small, indicating that “Knight’s Tale” may have some trouble crossing over to an older audience in a manner that would propel it from solid performer to big hit.

With performance of the remainder of the top 12 films ranging from tired to exhausted, the total for the dozen added up to just less than $70 million, according to box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, slightly behind the top dozen titles during the second weekend of May last year. But almost $50 million of this year’s figures came from “Mummy” and “Knight’s Tale.”

Best of the rest was “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” which has shaped up into a strong spring performer, recently surpassing the $50-million mark after five weeks in 2,506 theaters, the most recent weekend producing about $4.5 million in admissions, a comfortable decline of about 22%, indicating that Bridget still has some pages to write. “Driven” continued to cut its speed in half from the previous weekend, with the third outing cruising to about $3 million on 2,804 screens and $26 million to date, not enough to reestablish Sylvester Stallone’s acting or writing career.

“Along Came a Spider,” a thriller starring Morgan Freeman, also grossed about $3 million in its sixth weekend, on 2,480 screens, and has topped $64 million. “Spy Kids” traversed $100 million over its seventh weekend with an estimated take of $2.5 million from 2,599 theaters. With “Shrek” arriving next weekend, there will be another family alternative, which probably will cut into “Spy Kids’ ” box office.

“Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles” is almost finished with his visit, with $2.1 million predicted for the fourth weekend, in 2,166 theaters, and just over $20 million so far.

“Blow” should end up with around $50 million, given that it has grossed $47 million to date, $1.95 million of that over its sixth weekend, in 1,502 screens, giving the film’s star Johnny Depp his second modest hit of the year (the first was “Chocolat”).

The backward thriller “Memento” squeezed into the top 10 with $1.2 million expected over the weekend on 445 screens, enabling the limited release to surpass $10 million. Tenth place fell to “The Tailor of Panama” with $800,000 on 441 screens and $10.5 million to date.

Among other specialized movies, “Startup.com” opened at one 180-seat theater in New York over the weekend and grossed an impressive $17,187. It opens in Los Angeles on Friday.

The British comedy “About Adam,” which features Kate Hudson, got off to a rather tepid $35,000 start in five big-city theaters. The Latin musical documentary “Calle 54” performed less well, with only $30,000 on 12 screens.

But “With a Friend Like Harry” seems to have found an art-house niche audience, generating $200,000 over the weekend on 39 screens for a total to date of almost $600,000.

‘Knight’-Time Story

* The creator ponders how much is riding on his jousting movie. F4