‘From Hell’ Wins Battle Against ‘Boys’

It was a solid, if unspectacular, weekend at the box office, typical of the transition period before holiday movies arrive.

“From Hell,” a thriller starring Johnny Depp as a drug-addicted police detective in search of Jack the Ripper in Victorian London, was the top-grossing film, taking in $11 million.

Coming in a close second with $10.4 million was “Riding in Cars With Boys,” starring Drew Barrymore as a reluctant, self-centered mother.

And, in what has to be one of the more disappointing openings for a Robert Redford film, “The Last Castle,” a prison drama with patriotic overtones, debuted in fifth place with $7.1 million.

“None of the film openings really excited the marketplace, but there was enough business to surpass the business last year,” said Paul Dergaradebian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. “‘From Hell’ offered an escape, even though it was a pretty grisly escape. ‘Riding in Cars With Boys’ was a perfect example of counter-programming.”

He said “The Last Castle” may have been hurt by two other popular male-oriented films--”From Hell” and the Denzel Washington police drama, “Training Day.”

Although some Hollywood observers have questioned whether audiences would accept hard-edged movies after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the top movies in each of the last few weeks--”Don’t Say a Word,” “Training Day” and “From Hell”--have all been rated R. *

Weekend Box Office

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Three-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “From Hell” $11.0 2,305 1 (Fox) $11.0 $4,779 2. “Riding in Cars With Boys” $10.4 2,770 1 (Sony/Columbia) $10.4 $3,756 3. “Training Day” $9.3 2,603 3 (Warner Bros.) $57.3 $3,583 4. “Bandits” $8.3 3,207 2 (MGM) $24.9 $2,589 5. “The Last Castle” $7.1 2,262 1 (DreamWorks) $7.1 $3,134 6. “Serendipity” $5.4 2,610 3 (Miramax) $34.4 $2,087 7. “Corky Romano” $5.3 2,094 2 (Disney/Touchstone) $16.2 $2,535 8. “Don’t Say a Word” $4.2 2,256 4 (Fox) $47.9 $1,869 9. “Iron Monkey” $3.2 1,235 2 (Dimension) $10.7 $2,583 10. “Zoolander” $3.1 2,285 4 (Paramount) $40.0 $1,372

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Source: Exhibitor Relations