By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Moviegoers elected comedian Chris Rock (news) commander-in-chief of the North American weekend box office Sunday for his political comedy "Head of State."

The DreamWorks release, which co-stars Bernie Mac (news), won the ballot with a three-day haul of $14 million since opening Friday. Rock, who also made his directing debut and co-wrote the script, plays a small-time politician who trash-talks his way into the White House. It was budgeted at $35 million.

Two other films debuted in the top 10 and Oscar success boosted a few other releases, but year-on-year ticket sales fell for the third consecutive weekend as the war in Iraq (news - web sites) took its toll. With TV viewers glued to cable news channels, and broadcasters preempting ads to run news updates, studios are having a hard time publicizing new offerings.

"Bringing Down the House," the Steve Martin (news)-Queen Latifah comedy that reigned for the previous three weekends, slipped to No. 2 with $12.5 million. The total for the hit Walt Disney Co. comedy rose to $100 million, a few days earlier than studio executives had anticipated.

Another film also hit a century, the Matthew McConaughey (news)-Kate Hudson (news) romantic comedy "How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days," whose $1.9 million weekend pushed its eight-week total to $101 million. These two relatively unheralded films are the first 2003 releases to cross the key barrier.

In other new releases, the disaster thriller "The Core" (Paramount) opened at No. 3 with $12.4 million, followed by the John Travolta (news) military drama "Basic" (Columbia) with $12.1 million.

Oscar glory, meanwhile, propelled best picture winner "Chicago" up one slot to No. 5 with $7.4 million, a 20 percent boost from last weekend.

The Miramax Films musical, which led the field at last Sunday's Academy Awards (news - web sites) with six wins in total, has grossed $144.9 million after 14 weekends. It has surpassed "Good Will Hunting" ($140 million) as the top Miramax film of all time. Next target is the $157 million tally for "Scary Movie," the best performing release from Miramax's Dimension Films banner.

Filmmaker Roman Polanski (news)'s Holocaust drama "The Pianist," surprise winner of the director, actor and adapted screenplay prizes, jumped four places to No. 11 with $2.5 million -- a staggering 137 percent jump from last weekend. No other Oscar winner has enjoyed such a bump in recent history, said Jack Foley, president of distribution at Focus Features, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA.

Foley said Adrien Brody (news)'s Oscar acceptance speech, highlighted by a six-second lip-lock with presenter Halle Berry (news), helped the movie win broad acceptance from all demographics nationwide -- "even in Alaska." Focus increased the theater count for "The Pianist" to 773 from 550 last weekend, but it still pales against the 2,701 play dates for "Chicago" and the 3,017 count for the widest release, "The Core." The Pianist" total rose to $23.6 million. In addition to Polanski and Brody, Ron Harwood won an Oscar for his script.

Nicole Kidman (news)'s best actress win did nothing to boost "The Hours," which grossed $765,000 from 506 theaters. The film, released domestically by Paramount Pictures, has earned $40.2 million to date.

"The Core," a $60 million film in which an ensemble cast headed by Hilary Swank (news) and Aaron Eckhart (news) must journey to the center of the earth to save the planet, performed in line with diminished expectations, said a Paramount spokeswoman. In an ideal, war-free world, the studio would have hoped for an opening in the high teens, she said. Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc.

"Basic" stars Travolta as an ex-Army rogue who must investigate a military mishap. A spokesman for Sony Corp (news - web sites).-owned Columbia Pictures said the studio was "pretty happy" with the opening. Columbia paid producer Intermedia Films $19 million for distribution rights in North America and Japan. Intermedia is a unit of Germany's Internationalmedia AG .

The top 12 films this weekend grossed $87.4 million, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, down 23.5 percent from the year-ago weekend, but up five percent from last weekend.

Reuters/Variety

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office for the March 28-30 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

1. Head of State .......... $13,503,484

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $13,503,484

2. Bringing Down the House .......... $12,481,803

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $100,068,024

3. The Core .......... $12,053,131

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $12,053,131

4. Basic .......... $11,511,960

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $11,511,960

5. Chicago .......... $7,210,721

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $144,652,474

6. Dreamcatcher .......... $6,638,459

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $25,641,912

7. Agent Cody Banks .......... $6,419,524

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $35,166,724

8. Piglet's Big Movie .......... $4,931,308

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $12,730,591

9. The Hunted .......... $3,616,241

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $29,222,759

10. View from the Top .......... $3,516,872

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $12,250,828

Reuters/Variety

John L.: You could blame the current war in Iraq on the lack of box office excitement, but I would propose that its the lack of film excitement that is keeping people at home watching Spongebob Squarepants. War coverage will be more interesting when something other than the firing of newscasters happens. Movies will be more interesting when... hmm, I have no idea, maybe when X2 comes out. The current crop of movies may not be horrible, but their promotional materials don't make their products very interesting. Chris Rock's movie is number one for some unknown reason as its premise is pretty common now with Morgan Freeman and Dennis Haysbert playing African American United States Presidents. "Head of State" looked like more a remake of Eddie Murphy's "Distinguished Gentleman." Plus, Jesse Jackson beat Rock to the punch when he ran for President twice. The Core has such a ridiculous premise of the world coming to a stop that very few even gave it a chance. I gave it spin and have a full review later in the report. Basic is the reunion of Travolta and Jackson, but since the trailers did not play that up and its premise is still unclear, no one saw it either. It looked like "The General's Daughter 2." Bringing Down the House and Chicago continue to dominate with longevity and seem to have top ten staying power. Everything else is just floating around.

Stories and movies about journeying to the center of the Earth have always been ridiculous, especially when the explorers find living beings existing down there in their own world. The Core tries to be a realistic version of classic Jules Verne without the mole people. Unfortunately, this movie's premise is so preposterous, that no matter how hard the actors try, most will be unable to get past the fact that 95 percent of what happens could never happen in real life. But, let's forget all of that. When dealing with a movie of this type you have to accept its premise or don't watch it in the first place. The plot is that Earth has stopped spinning causing the electromagnetic waves to go nutso and screw everything up from pacemakers, bird sonar, and space shuttle controls. Storms and sun rays will soon cook and destroy the planet in less than a year if the core of the Earth does not get restarted. There are various theories thrown around of why this is happening. Is it a natural event or did "man" somehow cause this with its technological greed. I'm still not sure, but that's not important. The fact is, there is a problem and something needs to be done to fix it. In comes Dr. Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) as the college professor who has the most insight into what is going on as he figures out the problem first. He is co-signed by the brilliant but cocky Dr. Conrad Zimsky (Stanley Tucci) who knows more about the problem than he lets on to Keyes. They get several people together to create a device that will burrow through the ground and reach the core and several nuclear bombs will be detonated that should give us full rotation. Hillary Swank is a hot shot NASA astronaut who dreams of leading her own Space Shuttle mission, but her constant commander, Richard Iverson (Bruce Greenwood) keeps putting doubts in her head in an attempt to build her confidence. Odd technique. Tcheky Karyo plays a French weapons specialist, Serge, who is friends with Dr. Keyes. His main motivation for being on the mission is for his family. Delroy Lindo is Dr. Brazelton, better known as Braz who designed the craft that will burrow underground. He is a bit eccentric and is a rival to Zimsky in the scientific fields. For some reason D. J. Qualls plays Rat and is assigned to "hack the planet" with a desktop computer. Qualls is good in his small role, but the part is such a ridiculous one that it would have been better it he was not in the film at all. Last second computer hacks are just as dumb as defusing a bomb with 2 seconds left on the timer in ever spy movie. Most of the actors in the movie are top notch and in some cases award winning and that helps a lot when they have to recite somewhat awkward dialogue made up of technobabble. You almost believe that these people are capable of accomplishing their goal. The problem with The Core is its predictability and rushed special effects. First, let's look at the special effects. For a movie like this to work, the shots of mass destruction have to be spectacular. Independence Day sucked in terms of its story execution, but its special effects at the time were amazing. The Core is still using those same effects shots that were cool in 1996, but in 2003 look third rate. When the Roman Collosseum is destroyed by a lightning bolt, it looks like they just rearranged the bricks of the White House model from ID4. It also looks like the people standing in front of the Collosseum are not there but are looking at a giant movie screen as the people and the effects shots don't line up or match right. The inside of the Earth shots are kaleidescopic but very unspectacular. The movie was delayed in part to get these core effects to look right and it seems that they gave up in the middle and said "eff it, we have to release it now or never." The best scene in the movie is the Golden Gate Bridge destruction. It looks like a model, but there is a moment when a driver gets burned by the sun's rays that made me squirm at its abruptness and shock value. It was the most realistic shot in the film. Predictability in a disaster picture is something a filmmaker just has to deal with, but there is never a moment where there is suspense because whatever you think is about to happen happens. One person is about to be killed, and guess what, they die. The Space Shuttle is about to crash, but you believe it will come through in one piece, and lo and behold, it does. Eventually a hull breach will happen in the ship and all chaos will ensue, and gosh darnit,, all hell breaks loose. Near the very end, a character that is about to die realizes the futility of the situation and asks what the "eff" are they doing? You might find yourself asking that question while watching this. There are a lot of negatives to The Core, but as a dumb disaster flick, it was entertaining and rarely if ever boring. Accept its foibles and you might have a good time. It is stupid, but not awful, and believe it or not I bought the whole thing. Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 out of 10; B-; thumbs up.