By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" snatched the weekend box office halo from reigning champion "The Hulk," but the feisty action comedy sequel failed to match the performance of its predecessor, surprising an industry accustomed to inexorably rising ticket sales.

The Angels movie, starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu as unlikely crime-fighters in a story as skimpy as some of their outfits, sold $38 million worth of tickets in its first three days of release across North America, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.

The film's hit predecessor, "Charlie's Angels," opened with $40.1 million in November 2000, a slower time at the box office, and went on to generate $125 million. It also grossed $138 million outside of North America.

There were some other trouble spots at the box office. "The Hulk" slipped to No. 2 with $18.4 million in its second weekend, losing a stunning 70 percent of its audience, one of the steepest slides in recent memory. And overall ticket sales fell for the third consecutive weekend when compared with the year-ago period.

"There's a lack of depth" among films, with big openings followed by big drops, said industry analyst Paul Dergerabedian at box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

He estimated ticket sales this year were off by about 3.5 percent at $4.3 billion, when compared with the year-ago period. Attendance was down by about 7 percent. Sales this summer are about even with last year, while attendance is down by 4 percent, he added.

WINNING STREAK ENDS

"Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" managed to end an intriguing winning streak at the box office. The last six movies to open at No. 1 all did so by selling more than $50 million worth of tickets.

An executive at the film's distributor, Columbia Pictures, said he had merely hoped to open in the same range as the first movie, and said he was not disappointed.

"To us, at least, if we can exceed the worldwide total of the first one, we'll be happy," said Jeff Blake, Columbia's head of worldwide marketing and distribution. Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp (news - web sites) (6758.T) (NYSE:SNE - news).

Blake said the film also opened this weekend in Japan, doubling the bow of the first one by selling $6.2 million worth of tickets.

Dergerabedian said it had become "the new reality" that a sequel will outperform its predecessor, as indicated by recent films "The Matrix Reloaded," "2 Fast 2 Furious" and "X2: X-Men United."

The 10-day total for "The Hulk," a $150 million adaptation of the Marvel comic book, rose to $100.2 million. The film was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA (EAUG.PA) (NYSE:V - news).

Its 70 percent tumble compares with a 63 percent second-weekend drop for "2 Fast 2 Furious" a 45 percent dip for "Bruce Almighty" and a 34 percent erosion for "Finding Nemo."

"Obviously we're very disappointed," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of distribution. "You never want to see this kind of drop."

The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - news)-distributed computer-animated "Finding Nemo," which was produced by Pixar Animated Studios Inc. (Nasdaq:PIXR - news), was at No. 3 with $13.9 million and just days away from surpassing the $255 million haul of Disney/Pixar record-holder "Monsters, Inc."

The top 10 contained one other new release, the apocalyptic British thriller "28 Days Later," which opened at No. 4 with $9.7 million. The film, budgeted at just $8 million, far exceeded the expectations of executives at its distributor, Fox Searchlight Pictures. Fox Searchlight is a unit of News Corp.'s (NCP.AX) (NYSE:NWS - news) Fox Entertainment Group Inc (NYSE:FOX - news).

1. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle .......... $37,634,221

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $37,634,221

2. The Hulk .......... $18,847,620

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $100,593,300

3. Finding Nemo .......... $13,968,116

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $253,991,677

4. 28 Days Later .......... $10,061,858

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $10,061,858

5. 2 Fast 2 Furious .......... $6,225,570

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $113,996,055

6. Bruce Almighty .......... $6,190,085

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $221,329,795

7. The Italian Job .......... $5,462,902

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $76,758,011

8. Rugrats Go Wild! .......... $3,639,293

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $30,979,792

9. Hollywood Homicide .......... $3,061,550

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $27,315,347

10. Alex and Emma .......... $2,622,483

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $11,539,947

John L.: The Angels of Charles have descended down to Earth again, but this time their reception was not as warm. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle opened well for 98 percent of the movies released at any given time, but when a film is hyped as much as this one was, a $50 million plus opening would have been preferable. Bad reviews seemed to have been a factor this time as the trailers actually made the movie look pretty good. I also believe the main actresses did not come off very well in their promotion on the talk shows where they seemed too giddy, high strung, and unintelligible when they all would talk at the same time. Plus, Drew Barrymore was going around talking about how empowering the Angels movies are to young women which sounds ridiculous. Charlie's Angels is too odd to be taken that seriously. Most women don't have access to a full wireframe harness and CGI to help them beat off 20 burly sailors. The surprise of the week is the solid opening for 28 Days Later. There was practically no advertising for it on television, but the trailers were shown at some of the more popular movies released this year and peaked a lot people's interests. It had a better per screen average than Hulk which is sort of sad.

John Forsythe is back as Charlie Townsend the head of Townsend Investigations. He along with Bernie Mac, Robert Patrick, and Luke Wilson light up the screen with their amazing chemistry on camera. Forsythe has been portraying Charlie since 1976 and his voice has not lost a beat. He still sounds like the 58 year old we all remember hearing back in those days. He is the anchor that keeps the whole franchise in place. Without him there wouldn't even be a title. Bernie Mac replaces Bill Murray, who replaced David Doyle as Bosley. Mac is a gifted comedian whose amusing talents are showcased in this star making role. His excitement at seeing the size of the Townsend Investigations' giant size view screen is worth the price of admission alone. I see a spinoff of just Bosley adventures in his future. He is that good. One of my favorite actors, Robert Patrick of Die Hard 2: Die Harder fame steals every scene he is in that does not include Bernie Mac. He plays the government agent protecting a secret ring with vital information that if in the wrong hands could mean the deaths of several hundred people. Much like a certain famous Ring Trilogy, his ring, as well as a duplicate tempt all those who wear it. Patrick brought a certain intensity to this role not seen from him since The Faculty. Two of the best moments in the movie are when Patrick and Mac come face to face. Unfortunately, the budget for the movie must have run out because there was no wire-fu fight between them. Maybe in the sequel. Last but not least is the incomparable Luke Wilson, the more popular brother of Owen. He is the main love interest in Charlie's Angels and he must be using some of his "Alex and Emma" charisma here as I could hear all of the women in the audience swooning everytime he gave that little crooked smile of his. Also along for the ride is Crispin Glover as the Thin Man, returning from the first film. The Thin Man gets the largest character development and story arc in the film as we learn his origins and motivations. He is directly involved in the happenings in CA:FT and is key in how everything turns out. Glove is an amazing actor who never needs to say a word to get across every emotion needed to complete a scene. He even gets to kiss a girl. This all star cast has made one of the most enjoyable action movies of the year. Oh, before I forget, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore, and De Mi Moore show up in small roles as detectives trying to figure out the purpose of the mysterious rings. Their antics are amusing, but are the weakest parts of the film. A little less diva, and more background noise would have made the movie more tolerable. It was hard to remember they were in the film since 90 percent of the time the camera focuses on their bee Heinz. Diaz's Natalie is the perceived lead angel with her Smilex grin and rump shaking dominating the scenery. Her character seems to have two identities working here where she is the competent butt kicking private investigator and in her private life she stumbles over couches and her own two feet. Natalie's clumsiness is her sole character trait. If she wasn't attractive she would be extremely boring. Lucy Liu as Alexandra "Alex" Munday gets the Sabrina role as the somewhat smart Angel. Quiet as it's kept, Liu may be the hottest of the trio with her stuffed bra, padded jeans, and connect the dots freckles. Her dignity seems to remain in tact throughout their little excursions. The most screen time is given to Drew Barrymore's rebel Dylan. Unlike Natalie and Alex, Dylan has a deep dark secret that is a major plot twist that shakes the Angels group to its very core. In fact, it is so extreme, it will take the appearance of one of the original Angels from the 1970s to sort the mess out. Critics ask for character development in action movies and with Dylan you actually get it. However, an hour and a half into the movie the script sort of forgets all that and lets the action take over. Speaking of old angels, De Mi Moore (Kutcher?) plays Madison the post Tanya Roberts angel who wants revenge on Charlie and the world for being injured during a very dangerous case. This is supposed to be the ex Mrs. Bruce Willis' big comeback after her stint in the Navy SEALS a few years back was unsuccessful. Moore's look is a bit less defined as her face is a bit harder and her breasts are several sizes smaller, but her voice is still as raspy as ever as if she sat in front of an open window in her underwear when it was 40 degrees outside. I can't consider this a big comeback for her since the Madison role is actually very small. It really does not kick in until the end when the wire work fight sequences go full throttle. She's alright, but even her homage to her tears in Ghost during one moment in CA:FT can't make one forget the horrors of The Butchers Wife and The Juror. Charlies Angels: Full Throttle can best described as the obligatory sequel. An OS is a sequel to a movie made just because the first one was successful and a whole new story can be made with most of the same characters without having to have seen the first film. This movie or the one from 2000 could have been made first with only the Bosley situation changed a bit. Stunts are bigger, fights are longer, and however so slight, the Angels' lives are expanded upon with Natalie moving in with her boyfriend, Alex hiding her true occupation from her father (John Cleese), and Dylan confronting her secret past. Things move along at a nice pace but there are way too many guest star cameos from Pink, Eve, the Olsen Twins, and even the ex Mr. De Mi Moore himself to interfere with the general flow. The plot of stopping the mob from acquiring the Witness Protection List is a pick a plot of a hat gimmick that is very similar to the old Hitchcock McGuffin device of having an excuse to make a movie. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle was made so that the audience can have fun. It is fun and I enjoyed the action scenes like the opening Mongolian attack, the motorcross chase, and the Sailormen Burly brawl. The final stunts are a bit repetitive and blah, but it brings the movie to a satisfying conclusion. These movies could be made indefinitely. Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 out of 10; B-; thumbs up. The men are really not the stars of the film, as it is all about the women if you didn't get the joke. Except for Charlie. He still rules.

With SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and Monkeypox all the rage in the news now, 28 Days Later is all the more relevant as it is about an INFECTION! that spreads across the world (maybe) and causes people to turn into uncontrollable rage fiends who vomit blood, bug out their eyes, and smack people around. Oh, they can run at a fairly nice clip as well. The movie starts with a small group of rabble rousing cockney Brits trying to liberate some monkeys/chimpanzee/apes from a research laboratory. This lab has the worse security in Europe as its lone security camera is blocked with some tape and there is not a guard to be found protecting the INFECTED! simians. Due to the PETA radicals idiocy, they let free an INFECTED! monkey and it proceeds to attack one of the rousers. Over the next 28 days London and its surrounding areas become INFECTED! with this rage virus. The INFECTED! appear to be zombies, but unlike the Romero kind they don't seem to want to cannibalize human flesh. They just punch, claw, and bleed on you until you become INFECTED! like them. Twenty-eight days after the initial outbreak there seems to be only one survivor, a postal courier who had been hit by a car and had been a coma during the rise of the INFECTION!. Before his drip completely runs out and he starves to death, Jim (Cillian Murphy), wakes up and wanders around a seemingly deserted London, England. He soon learns it is not deserted as he is being chased by the INFECTED!. Fortunately, for the sake of a coherent movie, there are other non-INFECTED! people running around who take Jim under their wing. The main person in this group is Selena (Naomie Harris). She loves to scream INFECTED!, in that British accent that is so fun to imitate, every five minutes anytime she hears a bump in the dark. That is the word of the day folks as it is screamed at the top of any person's lungs who sees someone running around like a girl on crack and pop rocks through a street, tunnel, or stairway. When this movie comes out on video/DVD, take a drink everytime someone says INFECTED!. You'll be totally soused in no time. Twenty-eight Days Later looks like a standard zombie picture but it breaks most of the standard conventions of those films by reducing the screen time of the INFECTED! and increasing the amount of time we get to know the characters as they try to deal with their horrific situation. The movie is filled with the gore and jumps that is expected, but it is an added bonus that the characters in this film are not mindless, and are all quite intelligent. Murphy and Harris are excellent in their roles as the survivors and have a good chemistry together. I would actually be interested in seeing other movies they have been in after viewing them here for the first time. The first two thirds of the movie are more interesting than the last third when the movie sort of dumps the character strengths and focuses on what happens when you believe things are completely hopeless and you have only one recourse to become worse than what you despise. Things get pretty dark figuratively and literally at the end. Danny Boyle's direction is very stylized as the movie was shot on digital video which blurs and distorts the screen image to the point of making it hard to watch. Whenever things get real bright, the picture is very fuzzy looking making things harder to see than when the lights are out. The best thing he does is some sort of trick with how the INFECTED! move. It's like the camera is sped up a few frames making them look out of phase. That was spooky. I also respect the movie takes itself seriously without any silly moments to lessen the terror. There are a couple of light hearted seconds, but the tension runs from beginning to the end. This must be made clear, however. The INFECTED! are not zombies. In fact, I don't think they really killed one person in the movie. The only killers were the humans defending themselves or killing those they thought betrayed them. That must have some deep meaning. Twenty-eight Days is a good horror movie that is much better than the standard have sex and die fare we usually get. The acting is probably better than a movie like this deserved, but it was quite welcome. Final Review: 3 1/2 stars out of 5; 7 1/2 out of 10; B; thumbs up. Can't wait for 29 Days Later: Rise of the INFECTED!.

1. A 70 percent drop in box office is enough to make a lot of people angry who made the Hulk movie.

2. On the bright side, it took the first Batman movie with Michael Keaton just 10 days to make a $100 million and it went on to gross over $200 million.

3. Nemo is finding its way very soon to become the highest grossing Pixar animated movie ever.

4. Too bad all of the Nemo like clown fish will be dead after all of the kids get one for Christmas and then flush them down the toilet to release them to the ocean.

5. 2 Fast 2 Furious is now the highest grossing John Singleton movie ever.

6. Bruce Almighty shows that just because Jennifer Aniston is in a movie, people will still go see it anyway.

7. The Italian Job is the most popular Mos Def movie every made.

8. With Bruce Willis in Rugrats Go Wild and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, he becomes this week's box office king.

9. After the failure of Hollywood Homicide, Harrison Ford is re-reading his scripts for Star Wars Episode VII, Indiana Jones IV, and Deadheat on a Merry-go-round 2: Belhop's Revenge.

10. Alex and Emma's storybook love affair appears to not be quite the page turner producers expected.

The next weekend is the big July 4th blowout with three big movies hoping to get the box office out of its slump. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines; Legally Blonde 2: Red White and Blonde; and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas battle each other over who has the worst subtitle. I will have full reviews of all 3 Terminator movies next week in my big Ahnuld fest. If I'm lucky, Reese and Catherine Zeta will be involved as well. Bye for now.