By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Agent 007 returned to the No. 1 spot at the North American box office over the weekend, while the new comedy sequel "Analyze That" suffered major shrinkage, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.

On the traditionally slow weekend that follows the Thanksgiving Day holiday, ticket sales slumped to their lowest level in 12 weeks. But business could pick up next weekend when four new releases enter the fray.

This weekend, top honors went to "Die Another Day," the 20th official movie in the James Bond franchise, which sold about $13 million worth of tickets in the Friday-to-Sunday period, hoisting its three-week total to $120.4 million.

The film, which stars Pierce Brosnan (news) as the suave sleuth and Halle Berry (news) as love interest Jinx, was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc . It ranked No. 2 last weekend.

"Analyze That," a screwball comedy that reunites Robert De Niro (news) as a vexed mobster and Billy Crystal (news) as his therapist, opened at No. 2 with a disappointing $11.3 million. The hit 1999 original "Analyze This" opened with $18 million, and went on to earn $107 million.

"It just got off to a little slower start than we anticipated," said Dan Fellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures. He had hoped for a "couple of million more."

Critics were generally scathing, and young audiences avoided the veteran actors' farcical antics: 67 percent of the audience was aged over 35, Fellman said. Warner Bros. is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc .

'EMPIRE' IMPRESSIVE

The top 10 contained one other new release, the John Leguizamo (news) crime thriller "Empire," which opened at No. 4 with $6.3 million -- an impressive number given that it played in just 867 theaters, vs. 3,347 for "Die Another Day" and 2,635 for "Analyze That." "Empire," which cost $4 million to make, marks the first release of Arenas Entertainment, a Universal Pictures banner targeting the Latino community.

Some critics had wondered whether a genre film revolving around Latino drug dealers in the Bronx was a politically correct way to launch Arenas, but label CEO Santiago Pozo said his job was to stay in touch with the market, and the challenge now was to make the film a crossover hit. Exit polling showed 51 percent of viewers were Latino and 18 percent black.

Universal Pictures is a unit of Vivendi Universal SA .

Rounding out the top 10 were last weekend's three-day champ "Harry Potter (news - web sites) and the Chamber of Secrets," which slipped to No. 3 with $10.0 million. After four weekends, the boy wizard has conjured up $213.9 million, and should end up with $275 million to $290 million, said WB's Fellman.

Its 2001 predecessor, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" grossed $318 million in North America. Overseas, the Harry sequel added $60 million over the weekend to take its total to $288 million.

The animated flop "Treasure Planet" fell one place to No. 5 in its second weekend with $5.7 million. The movie, which reportedly cost about $140 million to make, has earned $23.8 million to date. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures, whose Walt Disney Co. parent last week cut reported earnings for fiscal 2002 due to the film's failure.

In the limited-release arena, the offbeat Nicolas Cage (news)-Meryl Streep (news) comedy "Adaptation" opened promisingly with $400,000 from seven theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. The film expands to 100 locations on Dec. 20 and over 600 on Jan. 10. It was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (news - web sites) .

The top 12 films grossed $69.5 million, the lowest level since Sept. 21-23, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. Compared with the week after Thanksgiving 2001, receipts were off 15 percent.

New releases next weekend include the Jennifer Lopez (news) romantic comedy "Maid in Manhattan," the Rob Schneider (news) comedy "The Hot Chick," the sci-fi saga "Star Trek: Nemesis" and the urban comedy "Drumline."

LOS ANGELES, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the December 6-8 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

1. Die Another Day .......... $12,843,007

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $120,207,399

2. Analyze That .......... $11,034,422

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $11,034,422

3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets .......... $10,086,264

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $213,970,962

4. Empire .......... $6,281,415

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $6,281,415

5. Treasure Planet .......... $5,547,431

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $23,650,217

6. The Santa Clause 2 .......... $5,327,205

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $120,141,388

7. Adam Sandler's 8 Crazy Nights .......... $4,854,255

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $20,044,450

8. Friday After Next .......... $2,800,165

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $29,117,661

9. 8 Mile .......... $2,548,975

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $111,179,170

10. The Ring .......... $2,519,379

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $123,312,326

Reuters/Variety

John L.:  This is another off week.  The full box office report returns next week with a full review of Star Trek Nemesis as well as a look back at the Star Trek movies and television series.