Box Office: Seagal Back on Top With Exit

March 18, 2001 -- After doing time in straight-to-cable purgatory, supposedly washed-up action hero Steven Seagal made a triumphant comeback to the big screen with the cop corruption tale Exit Wounds.

The Warner Bros. film opened this weekend at No. 1 with an estimated $19 million, besting last week's No. 1 film, The Mexican, and fellow newcomer Enemy at the Gates.

Seagal 'Thrilled' With OpeningSeagal's latest surpassed the debuts of his '90s Warner Bros. films, including his previous best opener, 1992's Under Seige, which debuted with $14 million.

Needless to say, the studio and its 49-year-old star are ecstatic over the film's showing. "Steven's thrilled … very excited," Dan Fellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros., told Reuters.

Wounds reunited many of the same players from last year's Jet Li starrer, Romeo Must Die, including producer Joel Silver, director Andrzej Bartkowiak, and supporting players DMX and Isaiah Washington.

According to Fellman, the action film played well with black audiences, no doubt thanks to the presence of rap star DMX, who also contributes a remake of the song "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone," which was featured prominently in the film's promotion. More surprisingly, the studio says that women also flocked to the film in high numbers.

Exit Wounds marks the sixth consecutive No. 1 for producer Joel Silver, the man behind such hits as The Matrix and the Lethal Weapon films.

Enemy Bumps Mexican Also opening this weekend was the World War II sniper saga Enemy at the Gates, starring Jude Law as a Russian sharpshooter and Ed Harris as his German rival. It opened in second place with $13.6 million. The Jean-Jacques Annaud-directed film, which is distributed by Paramount, boasted the highest per-screen average in the Top 10: $9,013.

In its third week, The Mexican slipped to third place with $8.1 million. The cumulative total for the Julia Roberts-Brad Pitt romance is now $50.9 million.

The family comedy See Spot Run came in at fourth place with $5.21 million but showed only a 21 percent drop-off. The Robert De Niro-Ed Burns cop drama 15 Minutes took in $4.35 million, falling three places its second week out.

As predicted, Oscar Best Picture contenders Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Traffic both passed the $100 million mark this weekend, becoming the 21st and 22nd films released in 2000 to do so.

Opening in limited release, the noir thriller Memento, possibly the best-reviewed film of the year so far, took in $236,697 from 11 screens. The Australian comedy The Dish earned $73,000 from six screens.

The Top 10 films for March 16-18, 2001:Exit Wounds, $19 million Enemy at the Gates, $13.6 millionThe Mexican, $8.1 millionSee Spot Run, $5.21 million15 Minutes, $4.35 millionCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, $4.12 millionDown to Earth, $4 millionHannibal, $3.7 millionTraffic, $3.41 millionChocolat, $3.4 million

Final figures will be released Monday.

Reuters contributed to this story.