Sunday May 14 2:11 PM ET
''Gladiator'' pummels new Travolta film at box office
By Dean Goodman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Reigning champ ``Gladiator'' vanquished John Travolta and his sci-fi challenger ``Battlefield Earth'' at the weekend box office, as the Second World War submarine thriller ``U-571'' hung on for third place.
``Gladiator'' pulled in about $24.3 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, vs. $12.3 million for ``Battlefield Earth,'' according to studio estimates issued Sunday. ``U-571'' slipped one notch to No. 3 with $5.8 million in its fourth weekend.
After 10 days in release, ``Gladiator'' has collected $73.3 million, said DreamWorks distribution president Jim Tharp, and lost just 30 percent of its audience from the first round. Its per-theater average of $8,257 was the highest in the top 10.
Director Ridley Scott's $103 million epic stars Australian actor Russell Crowe (''The Insider'') as an enslaved general who must earn his freedom by fighting at the Coliseum. Also starring are Joaquin Phoenix as the evil emperor who tries to have Crowe's character, Maximus, slain; and Oliver Reed, who died before shooting was finished but was resurrected digitally for his remaining scenes.
``Gladiator'' is a co-production between privately held DreamWorks SKG, which is distributing it throughout the United States and Canada, and Seagram Co. Ltd's Universal Pictures, which is handling all overseas territories.
``Battlefield Earth'' collected such accolades as ''profoundly dreadful'' (from the Wall Street Journal) and ''derivative sci-fi drivel'' (Entertainment Weekly) on its way to movie theaters. The saga pits a few survivors on a ravaged Earth against extraterrestrial bad guys with codpieces and braided hair. Travolta plays one of the latter. The film's distributor, Warner Bros., termed the opening number ``respectable.''
The movie cost between $65 million and $70 million to make, and raised eyebrows in the industry because it was based on a novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the late founder of the controversial Scientology movement to which Travolta belongs.
WB distribution president Dan Fellman said the authorship issue ``never really came into play'' once the film opened. ``I didn't find that to be a problem,'' he added.
The film averaged a reasonable $3,725 from 3,307 theaters, the widest run in the top 10.
The top 12 films this weekend earned a combined $71.1 million, down 9 percent from last weekend, but up 14 percent from the year-ago period when ``The Mummy'' was No. 1 with $24.9 million.
Also debuting in the top 10 were the ballet-themed romance ''Center Stage'' (Columbia), the kidnapping comedy ``Screwed'' (Universal) and the urban comedy ``Held Up'' (Trimark).
``Center Stage,'' starring real-life ballet performers Amanda Schull and Ethan Stiefel, grossed $4.8 million, tying at No. 4 with ``The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas'' (Universal). A Columbia spokesman said the $18 million movie played mostly to women under 21.
``Screwed,'' which stars Canadian comic Norm Macdonald and Danny DeVito, opened at No. 8 with $3.4 million. It did not screen in advance for critics, a strategy employed when a studio fears the reviews. ``Held Up,'' which stars comic Jamie Foxx and Nia Long, shared the No. 10 spot with Walt Disney Co.'s ``Keeping the Faith,'' each reporting about $1.9 million.
The Second World War submarine thriller ``U-571'' (Universal), which stars Matthew McConaughey, has grossed $57.9 million after 24 days. The studio's ``Flintstones'' movie has $24.6 million after 17 days. New releases next weekend include Walt Disney Co.'s animated ``Dinosaur,'' the college romp ``Road Trip'' and the Woody Allen heist comedy ``Small Time Crooks'' (both DreamWorks).
Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc. Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp. Trimark is a unit of Trimark Holdings Co.
