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Sweet Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat is more like it. Moviegoers fell in love with Reese Witherspoon again last weekend, as her latest laugher grossed $35.6 million to become not only the biggest September opening ever, but also the best of all time by a romantic comedy. While Barbershop (see story, p. 24) got clipped by The Tuxedo, the Ice Cube comedy withstood the critical attacks of Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, dropping only 22 percent. And finally, after pathetic second-week grosses, The Four Feathers and Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever are our bombs o’ the month. What will take the title in October? Stay tuned.

TOP 20 WEEKEND WEEKS GROSS WEEKEND NO. OF PER-SITE IN TO GROSS* SITES[1] AVERAGE RELEASE DATE 1 SWEET HOME ALABAMA Touchstone $35.6 3,293 $10,862 1 $35.6 2 THE TUXEDO DreamWorks $15.1 3,022 $4,980 1 $15.1 3 BARBERSHOP MGM $10.0 2,051 $4,880 3 $51.3 4 MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING IFC $9.4 1,841 $5,125 24 $136.6 5 THE BANGER SISTERS Fox Searchlight $5.4 2,738 $1,982 2 $18.8 6 THE FOUR FEATHERS Paramount/Miramax $3.6 2,187 $1,626 2 $12.4 7 ONE HOUR PHOTO Fox Searchlight $3.0 1,307 $2,312 6 $26.1 8 BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER Warner Bros. $2.7 2,705 $1,012 2 $11.5 9 SIGNS Touchstone $2.4 1,783 $1,326 9 $221.2 10 SWIMFAN 20th Century Fox $1.6 1,842 $844 4 $26.7 11 TRAPPED Columbia $1.5 2,227 $675 2 $5.7 12 STEALING HARVARD Columbia $1.5 2,323 $641 3 $12.7 13 SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS Dimension $1.1 1,570 $720 8 $81.5 14 XXX Columbia $1.0 1,261 $801 8 $139.8 15 CITY BY THE SEA Warner Bros. $0.8 1,034 $739 4 $21.6 16 IGBY GOES DOWN United Artists $0.6 121 $5,073 3 $2.0 17 SPIRITED AWAY Disney $0.5 53 $9,957 2 $1.1 18 AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER New Line $0.5 707 $692 10 $211.8 19 SECRETARY Lions Gate $0.4 53 $6,824 2 $0.6 20 MOONLIGHT MILE Touchstone $0.3 22 $14,990 1 $0.3

SOURCE: NIELSEN EDI. WEEKEND OF SEPT. 27-29 *WEEKEND GROSS AND GROSS-TO-DATE FIGURES IN MILLIONS

[1]INCLUDES SOME MULTISCREEN THEATERS AND PRINTS SHIPPED AS WELL AS INDIVIDUAL SCREENS

[BOX]NO. OF OPENING DOMESTIC TRACK RECORD: ANTHONY HOPKINS SITES WEEKEND GROSS

5/24/00 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 Paramount 3,653 $57.8 $215.4 2/9/01 HANNIBAL MGM 3,230 $58.0 $165.1 2/13/91 SILENCE OF THE LAMBS Orion 1,497 $11.6 $130.7 7/17/98 THE MASK OF ZORRO Columbia 2,515 $22.5 $94.1 11/13/92 BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA Columbia 2,491 $30.5 $82.5 12/25/94 LEGENDS OF THE FALL Tri-Star 2,005 $14.0 $66.6 11/13/98 MEET JOE BLACK Universal 2,503 $15.0 $44.6 12/10/97 AMISTAD DreamWorks 322 $4.6 $44.3 6/4/99 INSTINCT Touchstone 2,059 $10.4 $34.1 6/7/02 BAD COMPANY Buena Vista 2,944 $11.0 $30.2*

SOURCE: EXHIBITOR RELATIONS CO., INC. *STILL TRACKING