A wild, wild weekend at July Fourth box office

"Big Daddy" with Adam Sandler dropped to second place but still reaped an impressive $26.4 million over the four-day holiday weekend, while "Tarzan" also remained strong with $19.2 million for third place for Friday through Monday.

The "South Park" feature opened to a respectable $14.8 million in fourth despite tougher enforcement of the R rating, which limited the audience. Spike Lee's latest film, "Summer of Sam," opened to a lackluster $7.8 million in eighth place.

Overall, the box office was up 16 percent from Independence Day weekend last year, which had "Armageddon" as the big opener, easily keeping the year on a record pace, according to Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

"I don't think we've ever seen such a competitive marketplace and at the same time seen such an expansion of the audience," said Dergarabedian, noting that even though movies are recording huge grosses, they have struggled to remain No. 1.

Once again, moviegoers ignored the reviews and this time flocked to the widely panned "Wild Wild West," which had an impressive $11,011-per-average average in 3,342 theaters. The loose remake of the old TV series has collected a total of $50.1 million since opening last Wednesday.

Still, the film was far from Smith's biggest July Fourth opener. Comparing three-day figures (the other films didn't have four-day weekends), the $27.7 million for "West" from Friday through Sunday was well behind "Men in Black," which had $51 million in 1997, and "Independence Day," with $50 million in 1996.

It also trailed "Armageddon's" three-day debut of $36 million last summer.

The monstrous weekend was powered, instead, by the strength of the holdovers: "Big Daddy" dropped 36 percent - a modest decline considering its stunning $41.5 million debut - and "Tarzan" slipped only 20 percent.

Fifth-place "The General's Daughter" also hung on with a tiny 4 percent drop to gross $14.6 million and "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" cruised along with a 17 percent drop to gross another $11.7 million in sixth.

Only "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" appeared to be losing its mojo, tumbling 41 percent in the fourth week with a $10.8 million gross. It plunged from third place to seventh.

The weekend got a boost from the new "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut," which got glowing reviews but had to contend with a post-Columbine initiative requiring IDs to be checked at the box office for R-rated movies. The raunchy "South Park" had to be edited several times to get reduced from an NC-17 to R.

One of the few disappointments of the summer was the critically mixed "Summer of Sam," about a hot summer in New York when the seriel killer Son of Sam ran loose. Its Friday-through-Sunday business of $6 million was below that of Lee's bigger movies: "Jungle Fever" (three-day opening of $13 million in 1991) and "Malcolm X" ($9.9 million in 1992.)

"Summer of Sam" was another summer setback for Disney's live-action film division. While the animated "Tarzan" flew high, "Instinct" - with Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr. - dropped out of the Top 10 with $785,000 for 12th.

Rounding out the leading movie list were "Notting Hill," Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, finishing ninth with $5.1 million, and "An Ideal Husband" with $3.4 million for 10th.

Estimated grosses for Friday through Monday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures are to be released Tuesday.

1. "Wild Wild West," $36.8 million.

2. "Big Daddy," $26.4 million.

3. "Tarzan," $19.2 million.

4. "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut," $14.8 million.

5. "The General's Daughter," $14.6 million.

6. "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," $11.7 million.

7. "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," $10.8 million.

8. "Summer of Sam," $7.8 million.

9. "Notting Hill," $5.1 million.

10. "An Ideal Husband," $3.4 million.

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