'Austin Powers' Shags No. 1

By MARCUS ERRICO

George Lucas' Force was no match for Austin Powers' mojo, as the swingin' super-spy shagged the No. 1 slot at the weekend box office.

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me earned (in the parlance of Dr. Evil) 54.7 "mee-llion" dollars, easily toppling The Phantom Menace from first place for the first time in three weeks.

According to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations, Mike Myers' new Austin Powers grooved more in its first three days than the original movie scored during its entire 1997 run.

The Spy Who Shagged Me netted several box-office records, among them: • Best opening for a comedy (besting The Waterboy's $39.4 million in 1998)
• Best June debut (topping Batman Forever's $52.7 mil in 1995)
• Most number of theaters (its 3,312 being two more than last summer's Godzilla)

Notably, the Austin Powers franchise didn't really fly until the first movie came out on video--where it has sold $44 million worth of copies and remains a Top 10 best-seller.

The news, meanwhile, was far from dire for The Phantom Menace. Bounced from the No. 1 slot or no, the Star Wars lost only 23 percent of its audience from the previous weekend and raked in another $25.4 million.

Its grand total, through Sunday, stood at $296.7 million, making it the ninth-biggest film of all-time, last weekend passing both Home Alone ($285 million) and fellow Star Wars installment The Empire Strikes Back ($290 million, including rereleases).

This week, The Phantom Menace should move up to No. 8 on the all-time list, taking down Independence Day ($306 million). Also in reach: Return of the Jedi's seventh-place berth ($307 mil) and The Lion King's sixth-place status ($313 mil).

Still out in the ocean, Titanic, which sits high (high) on the domestic list with $601 million.

Another current summer film that's still running strong: Notting Hill. The Julia Roberts-Hugh Grant romantic comedy suffered only a 25 percent drop-off to take in $11.2 million, good for third place.

Here are the weekend's Top 10 flicks, according to estimates from Exhibitor Relations.

1. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, $54.7 million
2. The Phantom Menace, $25.4 million
3. Notting Hill, $11.2 million
4. Instinct, $6.8 million
5. The Mummy, $5.1 million
6. Entrapment, $2.6 million
7. The Matrix, $2.1 million
8. The Thirteenth Floor, $1.3 million
9. Never Been Kissed, $850,000
10. Tea with Mussolini $770,000

June 13, 1999

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