By Carl DiOrio

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Those hobbits are making a habit of winning.

For the third consecutive weekend, New Line's ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings'' topped weekend box office rankings, with an estimated $23 million. The total for ``Rings,'' which also copped an American Film Institute best picture win Saturday, is $205.5 million through just 19 days.

Universal/Imagine's ``A Beautiful Mind'' crept to No. 2 with $17 million in its third session, as the Russell Crowe starrer expanded to 1,853 theaters. And Disney's ``The Royal Tenenbaums'' grossed an estimated $8.8 million from 751 venues, good for fifth place after two weekends in limited release.

Sony's ``Ali'' fell 48% to $7.6 million in its sophomore session. The drop raised questions about whether it can go the distance. Will Smith starrer, produced for well over $100 million, punched up its total to $50.1 million but will need lots of kudos heat to sustain a profitable run.

The weekend was strengthened by the staying power of holiday holdovers. Those included Warner Bros.' ``Ocean's Eleven,'' which grossed $11.8 million in third place, and Paramount cartoon ``Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,'' one rung back with $9.2 million.

More upbeat was the estimated $7.4 million contribution in seventh place from Paramount's ``Vanilla Sky,'' the quirky Tom Cruise starrer the critics couldn't kill. ``Sky'' has grossed $81.4 million through four weekends.

The session was marked by an industrywide 6% uptick from the first weekend of 2001 to $127.8 million in total grosses, according to data from box office tracker ACNielsen EDI. The performance is traceable to strong expansions by previous limited openers.

The weekend boasted only one wide opener -- Miramax/Dimension's sci-fier ``Impostor,'' which finished out of the top 10 with an estimated $3.2 million from 1,870 playdates. Ho-hum reviews and a crowded marketplace seemed to conspire against the Gary Sinise-starrer, which was delayed from a scheduled Christmas debut.

Miramax's ``Kate & Leopold'' romantic comedy fell a modest 31% in its sophomore session to $6.7 million in eighth place. But it remains unclear whether the Meg Ryan/Hugh Jackman starrer can muster holiday sleeper performance the distributor was hoping for.

Imagine co-chairman Brian Grazer said ``Mind,'' directed by partner Ron Howard, has been served well by its platformed introduction nationally.

``Clearly, it was the way to go,'' Grazer said.

Exit polls show more than 96% of patrons rated the picture ``excellent'' or ``very good,'' the same beautiful scores enjoyed when ``Mind'' was only in limited release, he noted.

The ``Tenenbaums'' performance represented an impressive $11,868 per location a week before the ensemble comedy expands to 900 engagements.

Disney distribution president Chuck Viane called ``Tenenbaums'' a ``smart'' comedy of the sort best served by a platformed campaign.

``You want to give the film an opportunity to build to its widest point,'' Viane said. ``If you just go out to the widest point from the start, you run the chance of its dissipating too soon.''

The Wes Anderson-directed picture now has a cumulative total matching its estimated negative cost, at $21 million.

One picture bows in wide release Friday -- the Paramount comedy ``Orange County.''

Teen drama ``Snow Dogs,'' which Disney said drew 85% capacity audiences to a series of sneaks this weekend, debuts the following frame, one of several wide openers set for the long Martin Luther King holiday session.

Warners' ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' marked a big benchmark this weekend, as the family blockbuster took in $6.1 million in ninth place to fly its total to $300.6 million. The performance marks a first-ever $300 million picture for the distributor.

``It's been a hell of a year,'' said Dan Fellman, distribution boss at Warners, which topped domestic market share in '01.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

The top movies in North America -- January 4-6

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the January 4-6 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. The Lord of the Rings .......... $23,006,447

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $205,509,869

2. A Beautiful Mind .......... $16,565,820

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $37,779,241

3. Ocean's Eleven .......... $11,052,578

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $151,967,372

4. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius .......... $9,015,854

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $62,339,089

5. The Royal Tenenbaums .......... $8,512,122

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $20,697,480

6. Vanilla Sky .......... $7,125,023

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $81,080,174

7. Ali .......... $7,006,528

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $49,467,604

8. Kate & Leopold .......... $6,125,410

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $30,588,006

9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone .......... $5,930,425

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $300,404,434

10. Monsters, Inc. .......... $3,877,647

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $244,638,458

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

John L.: