By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``Monsters, Inc.,'' the latest family cartoon from Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studios Inc., scored a monstrous opening, scaring up $63.5 million in ticket sales in its first three days, according to studio estimates issued Sunday.

The tally, derived from 3,237 theaters across the United States and Canada since the film's Friday opening, ranked as the best cartoon opening of all time and as a company record for Disney, officials at the studio said.

``Monsters, Inc.'' revolves around a civilization of colorful critters whose power supply is fueled by the screams of human children visited in the night by a ``Top Gun''-like squadron of scaremeisters who bottle the squeals. The voice cast includes John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi and Jennifer Tilly.

It easily ranked as the No. 1 film this weekend, trailed by the Jet Li martial arts film ``The One'' (Columbia), which opened with about $20 million. ``Domestic Disturbance'' (Paramount), a thriller starring John Travolta, debuted at No. 3 with $14.5 million. Last weekend's No. 1, ``K-Pax'' (Universal), a drama starring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges, slipped to No. 4 with $10.7 million.

Columbia Pictures is a unit of Sony Corp. Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc., while Universal Pictures is a unit of Vivendi Universal.

BOX OFFICE SOARS

The overall box office soared to its highest level in 12 weeks. The top 12 films grossed about $137 million, up 89 percent from last weekend and up 44 percent from the year-ago period, when ``Charlie's Angels'' opened at No. 1 with $40 million. The last time receipts were this high was Aug. 12 to 14, when ``American Pie 2'' helped power the top 12 to a $148 million weekend.

``Monsters, Inc.'' surpassed the $59 million three-day bow of Disney's live-action ``Pearl Harbor'' in May, as well as the $57 million launch of Disney/Pixar's previous effort, ``Toy Story 2,'' in November 1999. In addition to the two ``Toy Story'' features, Disney teamed with Emeryville, California-based Pixar for 1998's ``A Bug's Life.'' ``Monsters, Inc.'' was directed by Pete Docter, a protege of ``Toy Story'' creator John Lasseter.

``Monsters, Inc.'' ranked as the biggest November opening ever, the fourth-best opening of 2001 and the fifth-highest non-holiday opener, Disney said.

``I think we always knew we had a great story, but to think we could launch a holiday movie at this level is great,'' said Chuck Viane, Disney's president of distribution.

In the sweet revenge category, ``Monsters, Inc.'' surpassed the $42.2 million wide opening of ``Shrek,'' also released last May, by the studio's animation archrival, DreamWorks SKG. ''Shrek'' is the biggest release in North America so far this year, with about $267 million in ticket sales.

``ONE'' IS TOPS FOR JET LI

``The One'' ranks as the biggest opener for a film headlined by its star, Chinese-born actor Jet Li. His previous record was $18 million for last year's ``Romeo Must Die.'' The new film's audience was expanded by its PG-13 rating, whereas Li's previous films were R-rated.

A Paramount spokeswoman said that ``Domestic Disturbance'' opened within expectations, although sales were hurt by competition for parents from ``Monsters, Inc.''

``K-Pax'' has grossed $32.1 million after 10 days in release. Rounding out the top five was the frightfest ``Thirteen Ghosts,'' which fell three places to No. 5 with $8.0 million, also in its second weekend. The film has grossed $27.8 million for Warner Bros., a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc.

In the limited release arena, French romantic comedy hit ''Amelie'' opened in the United States, playing in two theaters in New York and one in Los Angeles. Writer-director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's whimsical portrait of a waitress (Audrey Tautou), grossed a magnifique $140,000 from those three theaters. It will expand to 250 screens by Nov. 16, said a spokesman for Disney-owned Miramax.

France has submitted ``Amelie'' as its contender for the foreign-language Oscar, and industry observers expect Miramax to campaign hard for other hardware.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the November 2-4 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. Monsters, Inc. .......... $62,577,067

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $62,577,067

2. The One .......... $19,112,404

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $19,112,404

3. Domestic Disturbance .......... $14,033,112

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $14,033,112

4. K-Pax .......... $10,065,475

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $31,524,965

5. Thirteen Ghosts .......... $7,875,510

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $27,692,271

6. Riding in Cars with Boys .......... $4,056,350

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $24,562,107

7. From Hell .......... $3,504,412

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $26,246,578

8. Training Day .......... $3,052,422

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $69,569,698

9. Bandits .......... $2,824,822

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $36,270,462

10. Serendipity .......... $2,393,304

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $43,465,749

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

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