The Rundown in No 1 at the USBO

The action-comedy, The Rundown, kicked into top position in the absence of strong competition but could not become a runaway hit. The film, which was released in more than 3,100 theatres, was expected to fly beyond the $20 million mark but grossed just about $18.5 million over the weekend.

On the other hand, the sentimental and touristy Under The Tuscan Sun, which has released in just about 1,200 moviehouses, grossed a comforting $9 million. It was the second highest grossing movie of the week. Distributor Touchstone could add a few hundred theatres next week. The highlight of the film is a sterling performance by Diane Lane as an American divorcee who learns many life lessons while trying to start a new life in rural Italy.

In The Rundown, wrestler-turned-actor The Rock plays a hired man pushed into bringing home his employer's son (Seann William Scott), who is after a treasure in the Amazon. The film, which is expected to be profitable, made just half the business The Rock's The Scorpion King did. The Scorpion King, which opened last year, went on to gross an impressive $250 million worldwide.

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The brightest spot on the box office radar is a film that is in its third week. The gentle, ironic yet humorous love story, Lost In Translation, expanded from 183 to 488 theatres. It has grossed $3.5 million (total gross: $8.5 million) this weekend and is at the tenth spot. The movie stars Bill Murray as a faded movie star who is in Tokyo to do a commercial and his brief encounter with a lonely, bored American housewife (the luminous Scarlett Johansson). With a couple of expansions planned, the movie could find itself with more than $25 million by the end of this year. If it is on major critics' best pictures list, and then goes on to get several Oscar and Golden Globe awards, it could enjoy a second lease of life and become one of the most profitable films of the year. The film will be opening internationally soon.

The third new movie of the week, Duplex, directed by Danny DeVito and starring Drew Barrymore and Ben Stiller, had many vacant seats, grossing a mere $4.4 million in some 2,800 movie houses. On paper, the project looked like a winning black comedy. It revolves around a couple whose dream home is a converted duplex apartment in a nice New York neighbourhood and who contemplate to somehow get rid of the sweet little old lady who lives there. Unless she is evicted, they can never get the apartment.

Most of the reviews for the film were pans, though The New York Times called it '...a refreshingly mean-spirited Gothic real estate comedy...'

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer declared: 'Someone forgot to furnish vacant Duplex with comedy.' And Boston Globe, which is also owned by The New York Times Company, wrote: '...a cheap and cloying contraption that doesn't know when to stop smirking.'

Many of films released last week suffered sharp declines ranging from stiff for Underworld (about 57 per cent) to Secondhand Lions (32 per cent).

At third place on the chart is the horror film Underworld that has grossed $37 million. Secondhand Lions, a family oriented film that is at number 4, has grossed $23 million. Both films are on their way to profitability since they each cost about $20 million.

Though Pirates Of The Caribbean slipped to the twelfth position from the ninth, it still grossed $2.7 million. In about 10 days, it will cross the $300 million mark and become the second film to do so this year after Finding Nemo, which is ending its run with about $338 million.

The box office this week:

Rank	Film	Weekend gross	Total gross	Number of weeks
1	The Rundown	$ 18.5 million	$18.5m	New
2	Under The Tuscan Sun	$9.4 million	$9.4m	New
3	Underworld	$9.4 million (less 57% from previous weekend)	$37m	2
4	Secondhand Lions	$8.2 million (less 32% from previous weekend)	$23.4m	2
5	The Fighting Temptations	$6.4 million (less 45% from previous weekend)	$20m	2
6	Once Upon A Time In Mexico	$5 million (less 49% from previous weekend)	$54m	3
7	Duplex	$4.4 million	$4.4m	New
8	Cold Creek Manor	$4.3 million (less 47% from previous weekend)	$14.5m	2
9	Matchstick Men	$4.2 million (less 43% from previous weekend)	$30m	3
10	Lost in Translation	$3.5 million (up 34% from previous weekend)	$8.5m	3

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