By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The North American summer movie-going season wrapped on a scary note as new teen slasher ''Jeepers Creepers'' grabbed the crown during the quiet Labor Day holiday weekend, according to estimates issued on Monday.

``Jeepers Creepers,'' about a brother and sister's run-in with a hellish creature on a country road, grossed about $15.8 million for the four-day weekend, a traditionally low-key movie period when Americans are more focused on savoring the last days of summer.

The film nonetheless set a new record for a Labor Day opener, surpassing the $9.8 million tally of ``The Crow: City Of Angels'' in 1996.

The Victor Salva-directed film appealed as ``a good, old-fashioned monster movie,'' said Robert Levin, president of marketing and distribution for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., which released ``Jeepers Creepers'' through its United Artists arthouse banner.

About half the audience for the R-rated film was under 21, and the gender mix was even. The film marks the first venture between United Artists and MGM board member Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope banner, which produced ``Jeepers Creepers'' for about $10 million. UA paid about $2.5 million for North American rights, meaning that it will be a very profitable release, said Levin.

After three weeks at the top, ``American Pie 2'' (Universal) slipped to No. 3 with $11.7 million, narrowly behind ``Rush Hour 2'' (New Line) with $11.8 million. ``American Pie 2'' has grossed $125.6 million after 25 days, while the ``Rush Hour'' sequel has pulled in $199 million after 32 days. Universal Pictures is a unit of Vivendi Universal, and New Line Cinema is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc .

``O'' SLAYS AUDIENCES

The only other new entry in the top 10 was ``O,'' a controversial high-school thriller based on Shakespeare's ''Othello.'' The R-rated tragedy debuted at No. 7 with $6.9 million, although its 1,434 theater count was less than half the number of outlets playing the top three.

The critically acclaimed film, which culminates in a series of brutal campus slayings, was shot in early 1999 but shelved in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre in April of that year. The film's backer, Walt Disney Co. -owned Dimension Films, got cold feet and eventually sold North American rights to Canadian film company, Lions Gate Entertainment for undisclosed terms.

``It's a really good thriller from some amazing source material,'' said Lions Gate Films president Tom Ortenberg, adding that he was ``very happy'' with the bow.

Half the film's audience was aged over 25, auguring for a solid performance in coming weeks as word-of-mouth spreads among mature moviegoers, a demographic that does not normally rush a movie in its first weekend. ``O'' stars Josh Hartnett, Julia Stiles and Mekhi Phifer. It was directed by Tim Blake Nelson, and cost about $4 million to make, Ortenberg said.

Rounding out the top five were the Nicole Kidman thriller ''The Others'' (Dimension) with $10 million at No. 4, and the ensemble road comedy ``Rat Race'' (Paramount) with $9.2 million at No. 5, both unchanged in rank from last week. Their respective totals are $59.8 million after 25 days and $37.8 million after 18 days. Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc. .

According to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, the top 12 films grossed $94.7 million for the four days beginning Friday, up 25 percent from the year-ago holiday period, when cheerleader comedy ``Bring It On'' was tops for a second weekend.

New releases next weekend include the urban romance ``Two Can Play That Game,'' adventure classic ``The Musketeer,'' the rock and roll fantasy ``Rock Star,'' and the thriller ``Soul Survivors.''

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the August 31-September 3 Labor Day holiday weekend, according to studio figures released Tuesday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Four-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. Jeepers Creepers .......... $15,827,674

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $15,827,674

2. Rush Hour 2 .......... $11,713,042

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $198,892,734

3. American Pie 2 .......... $11,011,104

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $124,928,149

4. The Others .......... $10,162,977

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $59,956,515

5. Rat Race .......... $9,154,416

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $37,771,073

6. The Princess Diaries .......... $7,590,086

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $92,861,530

7. O .......... $6,916,625

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $6,916,625

8. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back .......... $6,517,115

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $21,977,799

9. Summer Catch .......... $4,912,347

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $14,435,569

10. Captain Corelli's Mandolin .......... $3,933,280

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $19,653,610

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

John L.: The Summer season has come to an end and not a moment too soon. Jeepers Creepers snuck up on the public and made it to number one this week while the 2 year delayed "O" made little impact after all of its hulabaloo. I have a full review of JC, and a look back at what we suffered through the last 4 months of late Spring and Summer known collectively as the Summer Movie Season.

Horror movies are an interesting type of film. They usually take place in a reality that is so exaggerated that it could never happen. However, a horror movie should establish rules that should be followed. Jeepers Creepers has hints of rules, but it never follows through with the set up and it eventually destroys any hope that a new horror film series could be born. The story deals with a brother and sister driving home from college by taking the scenic route through what may be the smallest town in the United States. Suddenly, they are run off the road by a guy in a big ugly rusted truck. The most annoying thing about this nut ball is that he keeps blasting his horn which sounds almost exactly like the worst noise in the world that Jim Carrey made in "Dumb and Dumber." Up to this point in the film, things are getting interesting as it seems to be setting up some sort of "Duel" scenario. That friggin' horn still haunts me, and is the best thing in the movie. When the two get back on the road they pass the truck as its parked by some old house. The driver is standing by his truck and is dumping things (people?) wrapped in sheets down some sort of pipe. Okay, the number one criticism of horror films is that characters do really stupid things that no one in real life would ever do. The answer to that criticism is that if they do not do that, then there would be no movie. After seeing this, I think that should be the litmus test with whether production should continue. Instead of driving away from the scene as fast as possible, they wait for the driver to leave and then go back to investigate like good little Hardy Boy and Nancy Drews. What they find is not pretty, and it really angers our mysterious truck driver to the point of having to chase them for the next hour and 10 minutes. The set up and execution of much of this film is very similar to 1970s horror movies, E.C. Comics from the 1950s, as well as one of the goofier X-Files episodes. As a half hour morality Twilight Zone, Jeepers Creepers could have been harmless horror entertainment. As a movie people have to pay money for to see in a theater, it needed a much stronger script. The truck driver is a monster as it turns out, who somehow was able to go to the local Department of Motor Vehicles and get a vanity license plate, shows up every 23 years for 23 days, and when it gets injured such as a broken leg, a pierced heart, or detreriorating eyesight, will consume that part of another human being. We also find out it feeds on the fear of others to get stronger. This seems to be a set up for a pretty interesting creature with odd motivations that could lead to some interesting moments. Well these things are thrown out as if the script was made up as it went along and things were forgotten that were mentioned before. This is obviously some monster, but was it human, was it cursed, is it an animal, or is it a hybrid created in a lab and escaped? The writer felt it would be more interesting to leave those things for the sequel since they are never addressed. Other questions never answered are do the townspeople realize that there are a lot of people inexplicably missing throughout the county, how is the old song "Jeepers Creepers" playing in inopportune times, could the lyrics to the song make the ending any more obvious, why is the psychic lady one of the worst characters ever in a horror film, could there be any two people dumber than Trish and Darry, why are some of the dead bodies in the movie preserved, what did the Creeper do with that cool axe, and how far has Francis Ford Coppola fallen to have produced one of the worst movies of 2001? Justin Long as Darry is very annoying in the role of the wide eyed dumbass who can't leave well enough alone. The movie makes you hate him for being so stupid, but you are supposed to root on him and his sister as they try to stop the monster. As soon as he pulls up to the Creeper house, you know it's time to yell at the screen. In fact, the sister,Trish, played by Gina Philips thinks she knows what time it is and even acknowledges that what they are doing is stupid and if it was a movie they would be goofed on. Of course both characters continue to be standard movie fools when it comes to solving the mystery of the creeper. Trish does come out looking better than her brother since she at least questions their actions. The motivation for the investigation of the pipe is to look for possible survivors which sounds ridiculous, but is shown not to be completely out of the realm of possibility. However, the fun of watching horror movies is to goof on the heroes for being dumb, so the movie accomplishes that very well. The ending of the movie is very unsatisfying as it ends somewhat abruptly. For a movie like this, there needed to be a better wrap up, but as it stands it ends like a Tales from the Crypt episode with evil getting the upperhand. Since there was no real backstory given to the Creeper, his actions at the end of the movie are looked on as being more stupid than frightening. I dread a sequel to this mess, but if they explain the Creeper and its mysterious connection to the psychic lady then there might be a chance at a passable film. As it stands now, Jeepers Creepers should be a frontrunner for those Raspberry awards next Spring. Final Review: 1 1/2 stars out of 5; 4 1/2 out of 10; D+; thumbs down.

1. Rush Hour 2 may be a huge hit, but it doesn't mean that Tucker and Chan can come out with any old crap for the next sequel and have it do the same business.

2. American Pie 2 is lucky that it's name recognition is so strong, because as a movie on its own, it probably would have bombed like most movies of its type have done all year.

3. The Others has the best staying power of any movie to come out this year and with the weak lineup coming up over the next few weeks has a chance to even reach the number one or two spot in the top ten.

4. Rat Race is does not want to go away and shows that the quest for riches race movie still has some life in it.

5. A Princess Diaries sequel is in the works where I guess she will become queen somehow.

6. O is another modern retelling of a Shakespeare play and it shows that even though Willie's stories have their following, it is time to come up with new ideas or face the real fact that the young audience will continue to abandon films.

7. My tip for Juila Stiles is to maybe try a nice Latino or Asian guy since the other races seem to give you nothing but grief.

8. The Kevin Smith experiment is over and the conclusion is that not enough people get it for him to continue making the same movies over and over again about sci fi pop culture inconsistencies.

9. Summer Catch is another strike out for Freddie Prinze jr.

10. Captain Correlli's Mandolin has had its strings plucked.

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood has ended its summer movie season with a record box-office tally surpassing the $3 billion mark, thanks in part to films about a green ogre, a grumpy mummy and a pair of mismatched, two-fisted detectives.

North American ticket sales for the 15-week stretch between the Memorial Day and Labor Day holiday weekends totaled $3.06 billion, up 2.3 percent from the previous record set in the summer of 1999, the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations reported Wednesday.

DreamWorks' animated fairy tale spoof ``Shrek'' was the summer's biggest hit, raking in nearly $263 million, followed by adventure thriller ``The Mummy Returns,'' grossing more than $200 million. The re-teaming of Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan and comedian Chris Tucker in ``Rush Hour 2'' ranked No. 3 for the summer, grossing nearly $199 million.

Despite the rise in revenues, motion picture attendance in the United States and Canada for the season stood at 546 million moviegoers, down about 7 percent from the banner level of 1999 but up 7 percent from last summer, Exhibitor Relations said. Rising ticket prices account for the disparity between box office and admissions trends.

In many ways, it was a summer that rarely lived up to its hype as heavily promoted, big-budget films like ``Pearl Harbor,'' ''Jurassic Park III'' and ``Planet of the Apes'' generated solid returns ($196.6 million, $175.8 million and $173 million) but fell short of expectations. Those films reportedly cost a respective $140 million, $92 million and $100 million to make.

Meanwhile, surprise hits such as ``Shrek'' and lower-cost, lower-profile films like the street-racing drama ``The Fast and the Furious'' and the law school comedy ``Legally Blonde'' ranked among the most profitable movies of the summer.

``The Fast and the Furious'' streaked to a hot $142 million at the box office even though it reportedly carried a modest sticker price of just $38 million. And ``Legally Blonde'' grossed $88 million but cost a reported bargain-basement $18 million to make.

``It proves again that summer is very unpredictable,'' Exhibitor Relations president Paul Dergarabedian said, noting that Hollywood's biggest stars were largely absent from its biggest commercial successes this summer.

``There was no Tom Cruise, no Jim Carrey, no Tom Hanks -- none of the typical stars you associate with summer,'' Dergarabedian said.

Pound for pound, Reese Witherspoon proved as big a draw in her movie, ``Legally Blonde,'' as box office queen Julia Roberts did headlining an A-list ensemble cast in ``America's Sweethearts.'' And ``Sweethearts'' was outdone by the G-rated sleeper ``The Princess Diaries,'' starring Julie Andrews and newcomer Anne Hathaway.

Likewise, many of the summer's biggest hits -- ``Shrek,'' ''Rush Hour 2,'' ``Jurassic Park III,'' ``The Fast and the Furious,'' ''American Pie 2,'' ``Legally Blonde'' -- were directed by relative unknowns.

The season's biggest success, ``Shrek,'' also stood out as one of the few summer hits this year by bucking the trend of films opening with big box-office numbers only to see ticket sales plunge 50 percent or more in their second week.

Industry observers attributed the string of huge opening weekends followed by precipitous drops to several factors, including the proliferation of megaplex theaters where one film can be seen on many screens. Also, studios often staggered the release of their films so that only one major movie was debuting at any one time.

Among the biggest flops of summer was the computer-generated ``Final Fantasy,'' which has grossed $32 million domestically but cost a reported $115 million to make.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

TOP 10 MOVIES OF THE SUMMER OF 2001 (MAY THROUGH AUGUST)

1.    Shrek   $263 million

2.    The Mummy Returns   $201.6 million

3.    Rush Hour 2  $199 million

4.    Pearl Harbor   $196.7 million

5.    Jurassic Park III   $175.9 million

6.    Planet of the Apes   $173 million

7.    The Fast and the Furious   $141.4 million

8.    Lara Croft: Tomb Raider   $130.7 million

9.    American Pie 2  $125.6 million

10.   Dr. Doolittle 2   111.5 million

John L.: The Summer of 2001 was very strange in that there were a lot of movies that made a lot of money, but if you ask most people on the street if any of them were any good, most will say that quite a many of them sucked. Movies like Tomb Raider, Pearl Harbor, Mummy Returns, Planet of the Apes, and Jurassic Park 3 opened huge and finished big, but they all lacked a certain substance that makes you forget you even saw them. The worst movie of the summer was probably Evolution with Swordfish being a close second. Evolution wanted to be another Ghost Busters, but it was so cliched and derivative just from the preview, that people knew to stay away from it. Also, everyone knows that David Duchovny in a movie means avoid at all costs. Swordfish had the selling point of Halle Berry's breasts, but the 2 second flash was not enough to bring in the horny guys. The big story of the summer was how movies opened to $40 million or $60 million and then the next week they are grossing less than $20 million. The second week dropoff was the most ever and it lead many to believe that the public was not enjoying the movies being released. That is somewhat true, but what it really shows is that there is so much hype for films now that everyone wants to be the leader of the water cooler discussion and see the hot flick of the week. Planet of the Apes, Jurassic Park 3, American Pie 2, and Rush Hour 2 had huge promotional campaigns that pretty much said see these movies now or you will not be cool. The 2 surprise hits were Fast and the Furious and The Others. No one expected much from these films, but they a have both become very profitable for their studios. Furious attracted the teen boy set and got some of the best repeat business of the year. Critics and audiences embraced Others as a horror film that actually tried to be scary and not a big one liner joke-a-thon. Kidman faltered with Moulin Rouge, but the Others proved that with a good movie, even she can finally have a hit film. The biggest disappointment of the summer was the reaction to Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within. I liked the movie, personally, but for some reason it did not do well. The previews looked very good, it had great hype, there was the history of the extremely popular video game, and it was a sci fi adventure lead by an attractive female. It was all there, but as has been proven countless times, computer animation only works when it is exaggerated and cartoony like in Shrek. Fantasy made things too realistic and it hurt the appeal. In fact, the Final Fantasy movie may have ended any future endeavors to make other movies like it since the costs were over $140 million and the movie barely broke $30 million. It is still cheaper to make movies with real people and not photo realistic ones. Overall, it was an okay 4 months of films with nothing too egregious being released. Here are my lists for the 5 bests and worst movies of the Summer 2001.  Click the movie title to read the original review.

1. The Others

2. Rush Hour 2

3. Legally Blonde

4. American Pie 2

5. Dr. Doolittle 2

1. Evolution

2. Swordfish

3. Scary Movie 2

4. Planet of the Apes

5. Pearl Harbor

Next week I have a full review of Rock Star which is a fictional telling of a true story about a guy who loves a band so much, he becomes its lead singer. Bye for now.