It took a couple of grizzled leathernecks to commandeer the top spot from Erin Brockovich after her three-week reigh. Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson's Rules of Engagement shot to a rah-rah $15 million opening weekend, making the court-martial drama Jones' fourth No. 1 debut out of his last five starring vehicles.

Daily Variety 4/10/00
$15M FUELS RULES

Par's military pic marches past 'Erin' at B.O.

Paramount's military drama "Rules of Engagement" strafed an eclectic squadron of weekend rivals, grossing a studio-estimated $15.3 million to unseat three-week champ "Erin Brockovich." .....While "Rules" didn't set any records, and launched less forcefully than many distribs expected, its win is Par's first weekend title of 2000. Muscle provided by stars Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson should give Par momentum leading up to its next release....

Daily Variety 4/17/00
'RULES' SOLDIERS ON

Par's military pic holds off Bullock's '28 Days'

Paramount isn't exactly dubbing "Rules of Engagement" a 21st century "Titanic," but the pic did hold off four debuts and stood strong in a blah frame, which is more than many B.O. pundits expected. With a studio-estimated $10.9 million for the weekend and $30.6 million to date, two-time weekend winner "Rules" is the highest grosser in decades for vet helmer William Friedkin. (Nevertheless, if it performs as expected and reaches $50 million - $55 million domestically, it will rely on ancillary markets to make money.) Pic's 27% sophomore decline was slimmer than that of "Erin Brockovich" and most other 2000 weekend winners.

Entertainment Weekly 4/17/00
DOGGED 'DAYS'

Even a box office intervention by Sandra Bullock couldn't unseat Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson from the top spot, as the 12-step comedy 28 Days debuted at no. 2 with a bubbly $10.3 million - $622,955 short of the two-week-old Rules of Engagement.

Hollywood Reporter 6/87/00
ANOTHER WINNING SEASON

The Spring box office....roared right from the start and never let up as the domestic b.o. tallied a record $1.14 billion. The new high reflects a solid 9% increase over the previous all-time high of $1.05 billion, which was set just last year, and marks only the second time in boxoffice history that the $1 billion mark has been surpassed for the season.

The highest-grossing films of spring this year were ..... Paramount's "The Rules of Engagement" commanded the fourth slot with $58.8 million, followed by....

Box Office Statistics

Weekend	Ranking	Weekend Boxoffice	Total Boxoffice	Days in Release
April 7-9, 2000	1	$15,011,181	$15,011,181	3
April 14-16	1	$10,933,627	$30,595,672	10
April 21-23	3	$8,007,551	$43,050,371	17
April 28-30	6	$4,643,307	$50,218,007	24
May 5-7	8	$2,445,265	$54,075,079	31
May 12-14	12	$1,763,323	$56,682,161	38
May 19-21	3	$1,164,224	$58,449,752	45
May 26-29	15	$731,618	$59,525,998	53
June 2-4	16	$316,061	$59,997,864	59
June 9-11	29	$146,420	$60,247,329	66
June 16-18	45	$74,063	$60,376,642	73
June 23-25	60	$34,082	$60,439,410	80
June 30-July2	23	$202,870	$60,657,391	87
July 7-9	31	$148,754	$60,956,301	94