Meg & Tom Deliver the Goods

“You’ve Got Mail” clicked at the box office. The Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan romantic comedy pulled in an estimated $18.7 million during the weekend, compared to the $14.3 million for the debut of “Prince of Egypt.” Both films received strong reviews and aggressive marketing campaigns, so they are likely to play well for the rest of the holiday season, predict industry observers. “Mail” could top $100 million while “Prince” will likely finish at about $80 million.

Elsewhere at the box office, Disney’s “A Bug’s Life” slipped a notch to No. 3 with $9.5 million, bringing its total to $95.9 million, while last week’s No. 1, “Star Trek: Insurrection,” tumbled to fourth in its second weekend with $8.5 million, a 60% slide from its opening score. The second weekend of “Jack Frost” followed with $5.1 million, topping the fifth weekend of “Enemy of the State” with $4.4 million. “The Rugrats Movie” finished seventh with $3 million, edging “The Waterboy” with $2.9 million. (The latter has become the 74th movie to go past $140 million in U.S. grosses.) Rounding out the top 10 were “Psycho” with $1.9 million and “Elizabeth” with $885,000. “Shakespeare in Love” continued to perform well in limited release.