By Carl DiOrio

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - The fabled denizens of Middle Earth battled to the top of the box office heap again this weekend.

New Line's ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' led a strong box office field with an estimated $37.4 million in its second weekend. The performance boosted the PG-13 fantasy's 12-day haul to $154.5 million, putting the first of three ``Rings'' movies on track for at least $250 million in domestic box office.

Warner Bros.' family fantasy ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' will fly well past the magical $300 million mark. The film's total reached $286.1 million after a 61% uptick to $11.5 million in its seventh weekend, good for sixth place on the session.

It remains to be seen whether ``Rings'' can do as well; New Line has been saying from the start that the picture will impress more as a box office marathoner than a sprinter.

The latest frame saw two wide openers -- Sony's ``Ali'' and Miramax's ``Kate & Leopold'' -- finish third and seventh, respectively, with $15.3 million and $9.5 million over the three-day weekend. Both pictures bowed on Christmas Day.

Industrywide, the weekend's $170 million in total grosses represented a 22% increase over the same three days last year, according to data from B.O. tracker ACNielsen EDI. Distributors penciled in particularly strong estimates for Sunday grosses over the most recent frame, because most students and many workers are off Monday.

In any event this weekend clearly showed more box office vigor than the pre-Christmas frame. A notable five pictures among the session's top 10 marked bigger grosses than in that previous session. Those included the weekend's second-ranked ``Ocean's Eleven.'' Warner's ensemble crime caper was up 18% with an estimated $17.4 million in the frame.

Elsewhere, the Tim Allen-starrer ``Joe Somebody'' from 20th Century Fox and the urban comedy ``How High'' from Universal fell from the top 10 in their sophomore sessions. ``Joe'' grossed an estimated $5.6 million, ``High'' $5.2 million.

Fox executives were scratching their heads at the failure of ``Joe'' to corner a share of the family market. But it may be notable that the Disney/Pixar tooner ``Monsters, Inc.'' managed a 71% jump this weekend to $6.5 million in ninth place.

The failure of Warners/Castle Rocks' ``The Majestic'' to generate Yuletide biz was another surprise, with the Jim Carrey starrer sinking to No. 10 in its sophomore session with an estimated $5.6 million.

The disappointments come amid a crush of competition at the box office this holiday season.

Sony marketing and distribution president Jeff Blake said the opening week for ``Ali'' was ``a great start.'' He predicted that kudos attention will help the biopic sustain its momentum.

The Michael Mann-helmed production carries an estimated negative cost of $105 million, split evenly between Sony and foreign-rights partner Initial Entertainment Group.

Miramax marketing VP David Kaminow insisted the $17.1 million in box office that ``Kate & Leopold'' accumulated over its first six days was ``obviously good.'' But he acknowledged the studio hopes the Meg Ryan-Hugh Jackman starrer can gain more momentum in subsequent weeks.

``There's some tough competition our there right now, but we're the only romantic comedy for the next few weeks,'' Kaminow observed.

New Line marketing president Russell Schwartz expressed satisfaction that ``Rings,'' an adaptation of the classic J.R.R. Tolkien novel, seemed to be playing well with ever-broader demos.

But Schwartz said the picture's mushrooming success wouldn't goose merchandise revenue appreciably just yet. Sales of ``Rings'' figures and trinkets should pick up prior to the second of the planned film trilogy, he added.

``The merchandising wasn't supposed to be a big thing with the original,'' Schwartz noted. ``We didn't expect that to take off until sometime between the first and the second pictures. And it may happen more quickly now, with the success of the first 'Rings.'''

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

The top movies in North America -- December 28-January 1

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the December 28-January 1 New Year holiday weekend, according to studio figures released Wednesday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Five-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. The Lord of the Rings $56,952,669 $174,119,499

2. Ocean's Eleven $26,168,774 $136,996,174

3. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius $22,294,778 $ 49,464,274

4. Ali $20,025,685 $ 40,051,763

5. Harry Potter and

the Sorcerer's Stone $16,938,804 $291,594,218

6. Vanilla Sky $16,352,471 $ 71,395,769

7. Kate & Leopold $14,534,736 $ 22,103,269

8. A Beautiful Mind $12,628,870 $ 18,559,546

9. Monsters, Inc. $ 9,445,443 $239,190,413

10. The Majestic $ 8,787,653 $ 18,913,608

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

John L.: