Irony was compounded again over the weekend as Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a film that criticizes the commercialization of Christmas, remained the entertainment industry's biggest commercial success story of the year, earning an estimated $18.5 million to bring its four-week total to $195.5 million. The film is virtually certain to cross the $200-million mark by the end of the week (it took Mission: Impossible 2 more than seven weeks to hit that mark), and some analysts have begun tentatively predicting that Grinch could eventually cross the $300-million level before the end of its run. The Jim Carrey starrer from Universal and Imagine Entertainment held off competition from three new entrants, Sony's Vertical Limit, whose vertical limit turned out to be $16 million; Proof of Life, which proved to be relatively lifeless with $10.4 million; and Dungeons & Dragons, whose game was up on the first roll of the dice as it took in just $7 million. Commenting on the success of The Grinch, Exhibitor Relations chief Paul Dergarabedian told the Associated Press Sunday, "It's the quintessential holiday story, and people are in the mood for that. They'll be the ones seeing it again over Christmas." The top 12 films together grossed about $81.5 million, up 14.6 percent above the same weekend last year. Bloomberg News quoted entertainment analyst Art Rockwell as saying, "This puts us on a record pace for this year after a slow start in the fall. ... The early Thanksgiving product is playing out fantastically."

Source: Studio Briefing