The only bit of analysis I would like to add is that a young Aussie director's movie, Urban Legend, has come into the top three. This movie should be a cash cow for Sony because they invested a paltry amount (15 million US I think - they probably spent more on advertising than on the budget of the film!) in the film and it has basically paid off in the first week. As box office guru points out it was the best ever September opening for a horror film.

Straight into the box office gurus summary of the estimates:

(figures in brackets are cumulative totals)

1 Rush Hour $ 21,100,000 ($ 63,934,000)

2 Ronin $13,000,000

3 Urban Legend 11,000,000

4 One True Thing $4,500,000 ($13,253,000)

4 There's Something About Mary $4,500,000 ($153,329,000)

6 Simon Birch $2,700,000 ($11,780,000)

7 Saving Private Ryan $2,600,000 ($181,908,000)

8 Rounders $2,500,000 ($20,075,000)

9 Blade $2,000,000 ($64,289,000)

10 Ever After $1,200,000 ($61,298,000)

THIS WEEKEND Good old-fashioned violence was what moviegoers were looking for this weekend as evidenced by the top three films at the box office. New Line's runaway hit Rush Hour easily held onto the top spot with an impressive gross of $21.1M, according to estimates. Slipping 36% from its opening salvo of $33M, the Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker cop picture has pushed its ten-day total to a solid $63.9M and should reach $100M by mid-October. The sizzling combination of laughs and action is making Rush Hour the top choice among movie patrons across the board.

With its powerful opening and second frames, the pic now can claim the two biggest weekend grosses in the month of September ever. At its current pace, Rush Hour should be able to gross $120-130M at the domestic box office which would be spectacular for a film that cost about $35M. Overseas, the action-comedy had a strong #1 bow in Malaysia last weekend and is opening in Singapore, and will roll out in more territories later in the year.

Robert De Niro's new film Ronin had a solid debut in second place with an estimated $13M. The MGM/UA action thriller opened in 2,487 theaters and averaged a very good $5,227 per site. Ronin scored the sixth-biggest September opening ever and stands as the best debut for the Oscar-winning actor in a lead role. De Niro's supporting roles in Backdraft and Cop Land led to openings of $15M and $13.5M respectively. By comparison, opening weekend grosses for some previous films by the actor include $7.8M for Wag the Dog, $8.4M for Heat, $9.9M for Casino, and $10.3M for Cape Fear.

Good reviews for Ronin should allow the film to experience a healthy run over the weeks ahead. Set in France, the film boasts a cast of international stars like Jean Reno, Jonathan Pryce, and Natascha McElhone. Overseas prospects for this $50M De Niro action film look encouraging and it has already premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

Larry Gleason, head of distribution at MGM/UA, stated that audience response has been "really strong across the board" and as expected, the turnout skewed towards older males. About 71% of the crowd was over 25 and the male/female split was about 60/40. With a 32% uptick on Saturday versus Friday, Gleason believes that long-term prospects will be very good for Ronin.

Another new release landed in third place as the horror film Urban Legend grossed an estimated $11M. Slaughtering college students in 2,257 dormitories, the Sony scarefest averaged $4,874 per theater. Displaying one of the best openings for a horror movie in September, Urban Legend is sure to become another profitable picture for Sony which spent just $14M producing it. The film's formula was nothing new mixing a youth-oriented story with female protagonists and casting recognizable television stars popular with the under-25 crowd - Alicia Witt, Rebecca Gayheart, Jared Leto, and Joshua Jackson. The release date of Urban Legend was also crucial to its success as it arrived about two months after the mid-summer horror duo of Disturbing Behavior and Halloween: H20, and a full seven weeks ahead of Sony's highly-anticipated sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer which has been moved up to a November 13th opening.

"It exceeded our expectations and we're thrilled with the performance of Urban Legend which is really more than just a slasher film" said Sony distribution chief Jeff Blake. The opening weekend crowd was a bit more female (53%) and was more young and suburban, according to Blake. As is usually the case for teen horror movies, Friday's gross was especially strong leading to a 16% increase in business on Saturday.

Last weekend's Meryl Streep tearjerker One True Thing dipped 32% and placed fourth with an estimated $4.5M. With its ten-day total now at $13.3M, the Universal drama should top out at around $25M. Also raking in an estimated $4.5M over the weekend was the comedy that won't die - There's Something About Mary. The Fox comedy broke through the $150M mark on Friday, its 73rd day of release. Comparing Mary to 1990's sleeper hit Ghost, the gross-out comedy is still running 3.4% ahead of the Demi Moore romance which had accumulated $148.3M by the end of its eleventh weekend. Mary is finally starting to decelerate more and should be able to finish its domestic run with an amazing $175-185M at its current pace.

Elsewhere in the top ten, Saving Private Ryan crossed the $180M level with its estimated weekend take of $2.6M which brought its overall cume to a brutal $181.9M. New Line's Blade became Wesley Snipes' second highest-grossing film with $64.3M and trails only White Men Can't Jump which grossed $72M in 1992. Dropping out of the top ten were Armageddon after nine weeks and Snake Eyes after seven. The two action films now stand at $197.1M and $54.6M respectively.

Fine Line averaged a mediocre $3,195 with Pecker, directed by John Waters, which took in an estimated $584,000 in 183 locations. Gramercy's comedy Clay Pigeons, starring Vince Vaughn and Janeane Garofalo, debuted in limited markets and collected an estimated $166,000 in 19 theaters for a more potent $8,724 per site. Meanwhile, the controversial romance Lolita opened in 15 theaters in the Los Angeles and New York areas and attracted about $105,000 for a $7,000 average. Although the Adrian Lyne-directed picture screened on the Showtime cable network last month, theatrical distributor Goldwyn plans to expand Lolita into markets nationwide in the coming weeks.