‘Freddy’ keeps its grip on No.1 spot

A weak batch of new movies made easy prey for “Freddy vs. Jason,” which took in $13.45 million to remain the No. 1 weekend flick, according to studio estimates Sunday.

“Freddy vs. Jason,” a blood feud between the villains of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th,” was the first movie to retain the top spot for two straight weekends since “X2: X-Men United” in early May.

“This summer in particular we saw weekend after weekend with a new No. 1 film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. “That really speaks to the transitory nature of the business and audience habits. The shelf life of a movie is very short.”

The year’s top-grossing movie, “Finding Nemo,” debuted at No. 1 in late May, slipped to second place the next weekend, then regained the top box-office spot in its third weekend.

“Finding Nemo” took in $1 million this past weekend, pushing its total domestic gross to $329.8 million.

The weekend haul for “Freddy vs. Jason” raised its 10-day total to $61.5 million.

The best debut among new movies was for Jackie Chan’s action comedy “The Medallion,” which opened in fifth place with $8.2 million. Ashton Kutcher’s romantic comedy “My Boss’s Daughter” opened in 10th place with $5 million.

Executives of “The Medallion” distributor Sony and of “My Boss’s Daughter” distributor Dimension Films said the movies were cheap enough that they still will turn small profits.

The Lisa Kudrow-Damon Wayans comedy “Marci X,” which sat for more than a year on Paramount’s shelves, opened with a dismal $865,000. The studio dumped it into a modest 1,200 theaters to boost its eventual value for home video.

Even with the weak slate of new movies, overall revenues were up sharply. The top 12 movies took in $86.2 million, up 33% from the same weekend last year, when box-office receipts petered out in a late-summer swoon.

Revenues this year from early May through Labor Day should wind up squeaking past Hollywood’s record $3.8-billion haul in summer 2002, Dergarabedian said. But that reflects higher ticket prices and actual admissions this summer will be 3% to 4% lower, he said.