Swordfish, the action thriller featuring John Travolta and an occasionally topless Halle Berry, finished number one at the box office with an estimated $18.4 million in what can only be seen as a lackluster weekend for movie attendance.  Pearl Harbor dropped precipitously to the third position losing over 50% from the previous weekend, while newcomer Evolution, debuted disappointingly in fourth place at $13.2 million.

 

While Dreamworks is undoubtedly a little disappointed in the performance of the Ghostbusters meets Men in Black effectsfest that is Evolution, the studio has to be happy with the continuing strong performance of Shrek, which came in second with over $17 million at the box office, a drop of only 39%, the lowest of any film in the top ten.  Shrek's cumulative total after four weeks is $176.6 million, better than the legendary Lion King ($174.3) and Toy Story 2 ($156.4) could muster in their first month of release.  By this time next week Shrek should surpass The Mummy Returns (now at $188.2 million), and become, at least temporarily, the highest grossing film of the summer.

 

Although Shrek remains in a record 3,700 theaters, it still may have a hard time reaching The Lion King's lofty record for animated films of $274 million in its first run; the competition is definitely getting tougher.  Next weekend will see the release of the heavily hyped Tomb Raider film, featuring Angelina Jolie (see 'Tomb Raider Knee-Deep in Promotions'), as well as animated competition in the form of Disney's anime-influenced adventure, Atlantis.