‘Apollo 13’ Is Still Flying High

Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13” continued its breathtaking No. 1 box office orbit over last weekend, raking in $12.5 million.

The movie has now stayed atop the box office for a month, earning $111.2 million to become filmmaker Ron Howard’s biggest moneymaker.

Howard’s previous box office cash champ was the 1989 hit “Parenthood,” which earned slightly more than $100 million. His other credits include “Splash,” “Cocoon” and “Backdraft.”

Among the newcomers, teen comedy “Clueless” performed well to finish at No. 2 with $10.6 million, while “Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home” finished sixth with $7 million.

The Hugh Grant comedy, “Nine Months,” fell only 21 percent with a gross of $9.8 million for third place.

Following in fourth was “Under Siege 2: Dark Territory,” which in its second weekend drew $9.1 million.

The sci-fi horror flick “Species” continues to do well and brought in around $7.1 million to rank No. 5.

“First Knight” continued its decline with $4.7 million to take ninth place.

At best, the total gross of all films in the marketplace came to around $85 million, an anemic figure compared with this time last summer, when box office totals reached $104.3 million, thanks to three booster rockets named “Forrest Gump,” “True Lies” and “Lion King.”