Weekend box office

By R. Kinsey Lowe

July 13, 2004 12 AM PT

As Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” simmers toward $100 million domestically, the Bush-bashing film’s openings in a couple of key overseas markets are producing a pattern similar to its U.S. rollout. Setting records for a documentary in the United Kingdom, it took in $2.4 million in 131 theaters, while in France it grossed roughly $3.7 million in 230 locations, according to the Fellowship Adventure Group, the company formed to handle the film in the wake of Disney’s ban on Miramax releasing the movie. Interest has been high in Great Britain, where Prime Minister Tony Blair’s military support for the Iraq invasion is widely opposed. The film’s popularity in France also was predictable, given its Palm d’Or prize at Cannes and general ill will toward President Bush, but moviegoers’ embrace of the film is all the more noteworthy in that not only is it a documentary, it is subtitled.

On the home front, “Spider-Man 2” and “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” may lead the box office, but a modest weepy “chick flick” called “The Notebook” is holding up quite nicely in its third weekend. The film, directed by Nick Cassavetes, had the smallest drop in business among the top 12 pictures tracked by Exhibitor Relations -- 12% -- from the Friday-through-Sunday period the weekend before. The next strongest holdover was “Shrek 2” with a 24% decline.

-- R. Kinsey Lowe

*--* MOVIE 3-DAY GROSS TOTAL VENUES AVERAGE WEEKS (STUDIO) (MILLIONS PER VENUE )

1 Spider-M $45.2 $256.4 4,166 $10,845 2 an 2 (Sony)

2 Anchorma $28.4 $28.4 3,091 $9,193 1 n (DreamWorks)

3 King $15.2 $23.6 3,086 $4,923 1 Arthur (Buena Vista)

4 Fahrenhe $11.0 $80.1 2,004 $5,504 3 it 9/11 (Lions Gate)

5 The $6.5 $43.1 2,288 $2,858 3 Notebook (New Line)

6 White $6.2 $56.9 2,201 $2,831 3 Chicks (Sony)

7 Dodgebal $5.7 $97.9 2,444 $2,336 4 l (Fox)

8 The $5.0 $65.3 2,313 $2,151 4 Terminal (DreamWorks)

9 Shrek 2 $4.5 $418.5 2,142 $2,078 8 (DreamWorks)

10 Sleepover $4.2 $4.2 2,207 $1,890 1 (MGM)