Box Office: How The Grinch Stole Thanksgiving

November 26, 2000 -- Chalk up another stolen holiday to that mean old Mr. Grinch. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas bested new releases Unbreakable, the latest from The Sixth Sense's M. Night Shyamalan, and rival kiddie pic 102 Dalmatians.

Universal's Jim Carrey-starrer pulled in $73.8 million from Wednesday to Sunday, according to early box-office estimates. Its weekend take was $52.4 million and its two-week total now stands at $137.4 million. That makes it the second-highest-grossing Thanksgiving film on record, after last year's Toy Story 2, which took in $80 million over the turkey holiday.

Unbreakable Settles for SecondUnbreakable, which stars Bruce Willis as a man who miraculously survives a train disaster and Samuel L. Jackson as a comic book collector who claims to know the secret of Willis' "unbreakability," took second place over the holiday. The third feature film from writer-director Shyamalan has earned $47.2 million since Wednesday. Its weekend total was $31.5 million, ahead of The Sixth Sense's August 1999 $26.6 million debut but behind Willis' personal box-office best, Armageddon's $36.1 million bow in July 1998.

Industry experts predicted that Unbreakable would open better than the word-of-mouth sensation The Sixth Sense, but that it's unlikely to challenge the 1999 Best Picture Oscar nominee in its ranking as the 10th-highest-domestic-grossing film of all time.

Dalmatians Spottier Second Time AroundThe latest Disney offering, 102 Dalmatians, debuted with a five-day total of $26.8 million and a three-day total of $20.4 million. Critics have mostly been unkind to the second live-action doggie adventure, which once again stars Glenn Close as the villainous Cruella De Vil. Its live-action predecessor, 101 Dalmatians, debuted with $45 million over the 1996 Thanksgiving weekend.

Rounding out the top five Thanksgiving films were Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and Charlie's Angels, with five-day totals of $22.8 million and $14 million, respectively.

While this year's ticket sales have so far lagged behind 1999 in box-office sales, Thanksgiving weekend proved to be an exception. The top 12 films at the box office this Thanksgiving holiday grossed $236.6 million, while the five-day total for the same period last year was $208 million.

The Top 10 films for Nov. 22-26, 2000:(See the Mr. Showbiz Box-Office Charts for three-day-weekend totals.)

1. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, $73.8 million2. Unbreakable, $47.2 million3. 102 Dalmatians, $26.8 million4. Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, $22.8 million5. Charlie's Angels, $14 million6. Bounce, $11 million7. The 6th Day, $10.2 million8. Men of Honor, $9.3 million9. Meet the Parents, $9 million10. Little Nicky, $6.5 million

Final figures will be released Monday.

Reuters contributed to this story.