How The Grinch Stole the Box Office

By SKillBot December 10, 2000 11:15 PM

By ANTHONY BREZNICAN, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (December 10, 2000 9:10 p.m.?EST) - The Grinch remained king of the hill at the weekend box office for a fourth consecutive week, stepping over two new mountain-rescue movies in the climb for the top spot.? "Dr.?Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas" earned $18.5 million despite dropping 32 percent from last weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.?The Jim Carrey comedy, directed by Ron Howard, has earned a total of $195.5 million.?

Continued interest in holiday fare through December will likely boost "The Grinch" past "Mission: Impossible 2" as the year's highest-grossing film, according to industry analysts.? The movie has already reached the $200 million threshold two weeks sooner than the Tom Cruise action-adventure, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co., which tracks movie industry revenues.?

"It just shows the power of 'The Grinch," Dergarabedian said.?"It's the quintessential holiday story, and people are in the mood for that.?They'll be the ones seeing it again over Christmas."