By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mel Gibson scored the highest-grossing film of his career Monday as the supernatural thriller "Signs" retained the lead at the Labor Day holiday weekend box office in North America, the traditionally lackluster end of the summer movie-going season.

"Signs," from writer/producer/director M. Night Shyamalan, pulled in $16.5 million for the four-day period beginning Friday, taking its 32-day total to $195 million. It surpasses the 2000 romantic comedy "What Women Want" ($183 million) as the top film in the 46-year-old Gibson's canon.

Additionally, "Signs" became the only movie this summer to log three weekends at No. 1. It opened in the top spot during the first weekend of August, was pushed aside by "XXX" over the next two periods, and then recaptured the crown last weekend. The film was released by Touchstone Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co.

Next weekend, "Signs" will battle for top spot with perhaps the most successful film of the year, the arthouse comedy "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which jumped two spots to a new high of No. 2 in its 20th weekend of release.

The $5 million film earned $14.6 million this weekend, taking its total to $82.4 million. Nia Vardalos stars as a frumpy spinster who causes chaos in her proud Greek-American family when she becomes engaged to a WASP. It was released by IFC Films, a unit of Rainbow Media Holdings Inc., which is majority owned by Cablevision Systems Corp.

"FEARDOTCOM" OPENS AT NO. 5

The top 10 contained one new release: the Internet horror "Feardotcom" grossed a middling $7.1 million it first four days, tying at No. 5 with "Austin Powers in Goldmember." The new film, in which the Web uses psychological energy to invade the lives of its innocent users, stars Stephen Dorff and Natascha McElhone.

The low-budget picture was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, and "Austin Powers" by New Line Cinema, both units of AOL Time Warner Inc.

In between were "XXX" (Columbia) at No. 3 with $13.1 million and "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams" (Dimension) at No. 4 with $7.3 million, both down one spot from last weekend. Their respective totals are $123.9 million and $69.1 million. Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp ( news - web sites). and Dimension a division of Disney's Miramax Films unit.

Overall receipts fell for the seventh weekend in a row, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The top 12 films grossed $82 million for the four days and $65 million for the three days; by the latter measure, the box office hit its lowest mark since Sept. 28-30 last year ($64.1 million).

Receipts for the summer, which traditionally kicks off on the Memorial Day holiday weekend (May 24-27), are expected to reach about $3 billion, about two to three percent higher than last year, said Gitesh Pandya, editor at BoxOfficeGuru.com.

But the rise is attributable to higher ticket prices, he added, as admissions were about flat.

The top films were "Spider-Man" ($405 million) and the relative disappointment "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" ($300 million). High-profile bombs included "Stuart Little 2," Nicolas Cage's "Windtalkers," Harrison Ford's "K:19 -- The Widowmaker" and Eddie Murphy's "The Adventures of Pluto Nash."

NEW BREED OF HERO

As Cage and Ford languished, the summer was notable for the rise of a new generation of action stars, including Vin Diesel ("XXX"), Matt Damon ("The Bourne Identity") and Ben Affleck ("The Sum of All Fears"), Pandya said.

Two arthouse films, both released by Fox Entertainment Group Inc.'s Fox Searchlight banner, crept into the lower reaches of the top 10 as their expansions gathered momentum. The Jennifer Aniston black comedy "The Good Girl" jumped four places to No. 9 with $3.6 million in its fourth weekend, while the Robin Williams creepfest "One Hour Photo" surged 14 places in its second weekend to tie at No. 10 with closely held DreamWorks' "Road to Perdition." Both reported $3.3 million.

Elsewhere in the arthouse world, the Indian film "Agnivarsha -- The Fire and the Rain," a non-traditional Bollywood epic derived from a Hindu religious story, grossed a modest $21,336 from eight theaters.

Wide new releases next weekend include the teen thriller "Swimfan" -- a "Fatal Attraction" for the high-school set -- and the Robert De Niro cop drama "City by the Sea."

Reuters/Variety

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the August 30-September 1 U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend, according to studio figures released Tuesday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Four-day Cumulative

1. Signs .......... $17,043,114

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $195,582,456

2. My Big Fat Greek Wedding .......... $14,809,546

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $82,556,992

3. XXX .......... $13,109,119

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $123,876,260

4. Spy Kids 2 .......... $8,275,600

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $70,051,675

5. Feardotcom .......... $7,087,457

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $7,087,457

6. Austin Powers in Goldmember .......... $7,069,386

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $203,471,220

7. Blue Crush .......... $5,569,455

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $34,712,525

8. Serving Sara .......... $4,385,699

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $11,949,391

9. The Good Girl .......... $ 3,804,818

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $7,544,746

10. Road to Perdition .......... $3,529,984

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $99,332,314

Reuters/Variety

John L.:  The Summer movie season has mercifully come to an end.  It was a mixed bag of success with Spiderman hitting new levels of blockbuster status with earning over $400 million.  Attack of the Clones was supposed to make that too, but it became the first Star Wars movie to not be the number one box office film of the year.  In fact, it may get beat by Harry Potter 2 and Two Towers later this year when their final totals are added up.  Clones was a good movie, but it seems that its slow parts kept people away from seeing it multiple times. The best movie to come out the last few months was definitely Signs.  One could call it a sleeper blockbuster as no one thought it would make $200 million.  A sci fi movie with less special effects than the opening credits of Attack of the Clones captured the imagination of more people due to its realistic to a point portrayal of an alien invasion.  There were three movies that came out that received the worst reviews I have ever seen.  Dana Carvey's Master of Disguise, Matthew Perry's Serving Sara, and Eddie Murphy's Adventures of Pluto Nash may have made some critics quit their jobs in disgust.  Pluto Nash will most likely replace Ishtar as the term for box office disaster.  Minority Report, Men in Black II,  and Goldmember made good money but they were not very good.  Their star power and franchise recognition saved them from costing the studios their buildings.  Animation had a rough time with Hey Arnold the Movie and the Powerpuff Girls not attracting even then ones who watch the shows.  Lilo and Stich showed that traditional cartoons can still work.  My Big Fat Greek Wedding is on its way to surpassing the Blair Witch Project as the highest grossing independent film of all time.  Here is my list of the three best and three worst movies to come out since May 1st.  

BEST MOVIES OF SUMMER 2002

1.    Signs

2.    Undercover Brother

3.    Star Wars Episode II:  Attack of the Clones

WORST MOVIES OF SUMMER 2002

1.    Reign of Fire

2.    XXX

3.    Men in Black II

The Fall season looks a little weak as there is no real stand out film coming out.  Hopefully there will be a surprise that will please us all.  Bye for now.