''Pie 2'' repeats its box office win

Can it be true? Could a summer movie actually hold on to the No. 1 box office slot for two weeks in a row? Your eyes don’t deceive you. In its second weekend, ”American Pie 2” maintained its prime position thanks to underwhelming debuts by its three new competitors.

”AP2” grossed another estimated $21.4 million this weekend, bringing its 10-day total to an impressive $87.6 million. (By comparison, the first ”American Pie’s” final take was $101 million.) Still, ”AP2” did fall 53 percent from its opening-weekend gross of $45 million, a decline right in line with the rest of this summer’s blockbusters. But with the limp competition, even the three-week-old sequel ”Rush Hour 2” managed to keep its hold on No. 2 with $19.2 million. ”RH2” has now officially surpassed the box-office performance of its predecessor, which tapped out at $141 million in 1998.

Landing in third place was the all-star comedy ”Rat Race,” starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, John Cleese, Jon Lovitz, and Seth Green. The slapstick flick received some great reviews and positive press but failed to attract many moviegoers to join the race, earning $11.8 million. Positive word of mouth, however, should keep the film from dropping off as quickly as most other films this summer.

Such was the case with the Nicole Kidman thriller ”The Others,” which remained at No. 4 with $10.8 million, down only 23 percent from last weekend. Granted, Dimension added about 500 theaters from its debut count, but it’s still an impressive feat, proving that fans are spreading the word about the summer’s only horror entry. Likewise, ”The Princess Diaries,” one of this summer’s true crowd-pleasers, scored a third week in the top 5 with $9.5 million.

The news wasn’t as good for the weekend’s two other new entries. The Nicolas Cage/Penélope Cruz romance ”Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” failed to make beautiful music, earning only $7.1 million. After the disappointing performance of ”All the Pretty Horses” last Christmas, this is Cruz’s second straight underperforming romance. Perhaps this fall’s ”Vanilla Sky,” in which she stars with boyfriend Tom Cruise, will make her a movie star and not just a media star. But at least ”Mandolin” fared better than Colin Farrell’s Western ”American Outlaws,” which barely snagged eighth place with a paltry $4.8 million. Where’s Jesse James to rustle up some money when you need him?

See the latest Box Office Chart

Look at movie grades from readers and critics — and rate some yourself

Read EW’s movie reviews