..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

The Cash in the Hat Universal's Seussical Cat in the Hat pulled out an estimated $39.4 million to handily take the weekend box office crown. The frame also featured a record breaking debut for a Dark Castle movie and a couple of excellent limited bows of films with both eyes on awards season. Expectations were high for the screen adaptation of the beloved children's book and at least critically speaking there were saucers full of sour milk from the nation's critics, technical virtues aside. However, that merely mirrored the response to the prior Seuss movie Grinch. It was nonetheless a solid debut for The Cat in the Hat, especially in light of the dynamic performance of the similarly appealing Elf. Also off to a fast start was the eerie Gothika with Halle Berry in second spot with roughly $19.5 million. The latest in the Dark Castle franchise (and the first not adapted from a B horror title) had the series highest grossing debut and, to the amazement of Warner execs initial exit polls pegged its audience as dominantly female and ethnic. Despite strong openers and relatively good holdovers, overall business appeared to be roughly 12% off 2002's pace and should ring up about $137 million in ticket sales. A year ago the Bond Die Another Day (also with Berry) shot out with $47 million and Friday After Next ranked third with $13 million. Weekend reviews got a small 3% hiccup from a week earlier. Elf once again held its own in the marketplace, slipping a slim 27% to rank third just behind Gothika with $19.3 million. The other film that's maintaining position is the comedy ensemble Love Actually that added about 500 theaters and saw a 3% rise to $9 million and a $31 million cume. Conversely, the family titles that are struggling and worse are Disney's animated Brother Bear and the mixed format Looney Toons: Back in Action. Bear took a 50% plus hit this weekend and is likely to be rocked back when Haunted Mansion bows on Thanksgiving Day for a final tally around $85 million. Toons took a comparable weekend knock but never had the initial momentum of its cel mate and the pricey package won't come close to grossing its P & A budget. The other film in choppy commercial waters is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It's sophomore session had a 43% drop from opening weekend and that's worrisome to Fox execs that hoped for better sea legs following 4-star reviews and excellent word-of-mouth. Though confidence reigns that the picture will figure prominently when awards are doled out, it's headed into rough waters in the next month as other contenders are launched in the marketplace. The frame also included a couple of toe dips for ballyhooed critical titles. Focus's 21 Grams with Sean Penn weighed in with a dynamic $280,000 from eight screens for an impressive per engagement gross of $34,500. It will continue to expand cautiously in hopes of translating critical honors into commercial appeal for the grim tale of fate. There was also positive news for Miramax/Alliance's Cannes-prized The Barbarian Invasions from Quebec in its first forays among English-language viewers. The lively rumination on life and death grossed about $75,000 from six U.S. and Canadian engagements following exceptional returns from Quebec and France that have totaled more than $12 million. - by Leonard Klady