Fat openings and fast drops, with much better-than-normal weekday attendance. That's the box-office pattern every year from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. Both 'Legally Blonde' and 'The Score' out-performed expectations in their opening weekends, but the third wide-release newcomer - the one expected to rule the roost, 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within,' deep-sixed after a splashy debut. 'Legally Blonde,' with Reese Witherspoon as a seemingly dippy girl who gets into Harvard Law School, slugged it out all weekend with 'The Score,' a heist film that teams three of the best actors from three different generations - Robert De Niro and Edward Norton with Marlon Brando in an extended cameo. Nationally, 'Blonde' took a slight edge on the strength of its under-30, predominantly female audience. But 'The Score,' a close second thanks mainly to over-30 males, did even better locally, where it's running No. 1. No. 2 here is 'Legally Blonde.' Third everywhere is 'Cats & Dogs,' which is off 43 percent here in its second round. Fourth here is last week's local champ, 'Scary Movie 2,' down 55 percent, as was to be expected from a sequel that only the predisposed are seeing. Fifth locally is 'Final Fantasy,' a Japanese sci-fi film in which even the human characters are computer-generated. Based on a video game, its budget is estimated between $147 million to $167 million. It could earn that back abroad, but whereas it sprinted to strong returns when it opened Wednesday, it lost half of its momentum Thursday and never recovered over its first weekend. Watch for a fast fold. No. 6 here is 'Dr. Dolittle 2,' which had the smallest drop of any of the top 10 - just 27 percent. Seventh locally is 'The Fast and the Furious,' down 47 percent. Eighth is Steven Spielberg's 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence,' which is hemorrhaging attendance. It opened two weeks ago in first place, but with revenue falling below forecasts. In its second week it lost 52 percent of its audience nationally (43 percent here). In its third week, it's down a mammoth 63 percent nationally and 66 percent here. No. 9 here is 'Kiss of the Dragon,' off 56 percent. The nine-week-old 'Shrek' is 10th, down 44 percent. Two of the season's hottest box-office prospects jump into the fray this week. 'Jurassic Park 3' opens Wednesday and 'America's Sweethearts,' with Julia Roberts and Billy Crystal, on Friday. 'The Closet' was to open Friday, too, but it might be postponed until July 27. 'BELLS' HELPS CLO The first Civic Light Opera production of 'Bells Are Ringing' since the Melody Tent days in 1959 gave CLO a decent week at Benedum Center. The eight performances drew 15,086 patrons and a gross of $472,344 for a CLO season high of 67 percent of capacity.

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