The expensive film version of Stephen King's Dreamcatcher harvested $15 million but could not spook away Bringing Down The House from the top position. Nor could the new comedy View From The Top, starring Gwyneth Paltrow with Mike Myers in a guest role, tumble House from high altitude.

The Paltrow aviation comedy was shot down by most major critics in America, with New York Post's Lou Lumenick calling it 'the movie equivalent of airline food.'

He suggested producer and distributor Miramax should 'make a contribution to the [Gulf] war effort by dropping prints of this bomb on Baghdad.'

For the third week in a row, the comedy Bringing Down The House, starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah remained the most popular film in North America. Distributor Buena Vista added 70 more theatres, taking the total screen count to 2,871. With an estimated $16.2 million earned over the weekend and a $83.4 million gross, the comedy co-produced by Ashok Amritraj, should cross $100 million in eight days, with a $140 million total gross looking eminently possible.

A story of friendship, alien invasion and rogue army officers, Dreamcatcher, a Warner Bros film, joins several recent big budget films, including The Hunted and Tears Of The Sun as a critical miss and box-office disappointment. The Hunted, with a $6.5 million weekend gross and $23 million total gross, is looking at a $40 million final; Tears Of The Sun, with a $4.5 million weekend gross and $38 million total, is expected to fare much better. It could exit with about $50 million.

How much was the box-office affected by the war? Trade publication Variety says the combined ticket sales for the top 12 films tallied $84 million -- a 7 per cent decline from the last weekend and a 29 per cent slide from a year ago. Many moviegoers stayed at home, 'searching their hearts and being with their families,' Rick Sands, chief operating officer of Disney's Miramax Films unit told Variety.

The core male audience of Dreamcatcher was likely distracted by the televised coverage of the war, according to Variety. How much of a role did the word of mouth play? Even Dan Fellman, president of distribution at AOL Time Warner, could not blame the war entirely. While asserting the studio lost 'a couple of millions,' he admitted it was 'hard to tell.'

The teen adventure comedy, Agent Cody Banks, made for some $20 million, is steady at the box-office, and with a gross of $9.3 million over the weekend and a $26 million total, it is shaping into a solid hit. Producer MGM has already greenlit a sequel.

Though several other comedies, including Old School, are laughing at the box-office, View From The Top earned a meagre $7.6 million from 2,508 theatres, biting dust in no time. The Miramax film tells the story of a young woman from a low income family who dreams of becoming a flight attendant so she can see the world.

Critics were not amused by Bruno Barreto's film. Barreto's 1997 political drama Four Days In September, a Brazilian film, was a Foreign Film Oscar contender.

'Paltrow cannot begin to save this unfunny flight attendant comedy that should have gone direct to video', declared the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, while the Cincinnati Enquirer called it 'a deeply confused movie.'

Miramax had another highly satisfying week with the Oscar-winning Chicago, which came down just about 10 per cent from last week, earning $6.5 million, with its total reaching $134 million.

Among the holdovers, Old School was good enough for $4 million. With $67 million in the bank, the $30 million film is on its way to a bumper $80 million run.

The romantic comedy How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days  is inching toward the $100 million benchmark. It is a certified hit for Kate Hudson whose best known film Almost Famous grossed a disappointing $35 million two years ago.