'Gold' rush at box office
WB romantic comedy wins weekend
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Placing second, Universal's Martin Lawrence family comedy "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" also did the job in its debut, grossing an estimated $17.1 million from 2,386 theaters, according to Rentrak. Both films performed in line with expectations.
Disney's 3-D tween hit "Hannah Montana/Cyrus Miley: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" -- the weekend's wildcard -- fell off steeply in its second frame. Still, film posted a boffo per screen average of $15,295 as it declined 66% to an estimated $10.5 million from 683 runs for a cume of $53.4 million in its first 10 days. Concert films generally drop about 60%.
No one was quite sure what "Hannah Montana" would do in its second sesh, since it was initially scheduled to play for just one week. The Mouse House extended the run after the pic, which cost $7 million to produce, opened to a boffo $31.1 million over Super Bowl weekend.
After racking up record-breaking gains for much of January and February, the domestic box office was down just slightly, or 1.2%, from the same weekend last year, when DreamWorks-Paramount's Eddie Murphy laffer "Norbit" led with a $34.2 million bow, according to Media by Numbers. Year-to-date, the box office is still up a hefty 14.9%, while admissions are up 10.4%. The film biz crossed the $1 billion box office mark over the weekend in record time.
Directed by Andy Tennant and produced by Donald De Line, "Fool's Gold" was on par with the opening numbers for McConaughey and Hudson's last pairing, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," which debuted at $23.8 million on the same weekend in 2003 on its way to grossing $105.8 million domestically.
"Fool's Gold" skewed 62% female, while 57% of the overall aud was 25 and older. In recent days, Warners tweaked the marketing campaign to emphasize that the film is a romantic action-adventure, versus just a romancer, in the hopes of drawing more men.
Warners exec VP of distribution Jeff Goldstein said moviegoers should remain sweet on "Fool's Gold" through Valentine's Day -- which falls on Thursday -- and the long President's Day weekend.
"Love is in this air," Goldstein said. "This movie is light entertainment, and we need that. There's too much reality out there."
Universal prexy of distribution Nikki Rocco said "Roscoe Jenkins" proved a huge draw for families, evidenced by a sizeable 50% uptick in business from Friday to Saturday that was fueled by matinees. Audience was predominately African-American, although Lawrence is a crossover star, which positions the film nicely for the upcoming holiday.
"This is a picture that has a nice broad family appeal," Rocco said.
"Roscoe Jenkins" cost roughly $30 million to produce. "Fool's Gold" cost upwards of $70 million to produce.
Among holdovers, Lionsgate's Jessica Alba thriller "The Eye" placed No. 4 in its second weekend, declining 47% to an estimated $6.6 million from 2,470 runs for a cume of $21.5 million.
Women will remain a driving factor at the box office heading into the holiday.
"Fool's Gold" will see new competition on Thursday when Universal/Working Title bows Ryan Reynolds-Abigail Breslin romantic dramedy "Definitely, Maybe." Holdovers "Juno" and "27 Dresses" also remain big draws among women and girls, coming in No. 5 and No. 6 for the weekend, respectively.
Fox Searchlight's Oscar best pic contender "Juno" -- one of the top grossing specialty pics of all time -- declined just 18% in its 10th frame to an estimated $5.7 million from 2,321 runs for a cume of $117.6 million. Twentieth Century Fox's "Dresses" also grossed $5.7 million as it declined 33% in its fourth frame for a cume of $65.4 million.
"I think women can talk their men into going to see this movie, and then people like the movie," Fox senior VP of distribution Bert Livingston said. "Remember 'The Devil Wears Prada'? That made nearly $125 million."
Warner Bros.' "The Bucket List" also is anything but kicking the bucket at the B.O. The Jack Nicholson-Morgan Freeman starrer declined just 21% in its seventh frame to an estimated $5.3 million from 2,753 runs for a cume of $75 million.
Male-skewing holdovers "Rambo" and "Meet the Spartans" came in No. 8 and No. 9 for the weekend, respectively. "Rambo," from Lionsgate and the Weinstein Co., declined 42% to an estimated $4.1 million from 2,727 runs for a cume of $36.5 million in its third weekend.
Fox's "Spartans," also in its third frame, declined 44% to an estimated $4 million from 2,446 theaters for a cume of $22.9 million. (This Thursday, Fox will entice the male demo with Doug Liman's sci-fi action-adventure "Jumper.")
On the specialty side, Paramount Vantage's Oscar contender "There Will Be Blood" remained on the top 10 list over the weekend, declining 12% to an estimated $4 million from 1,620 runs for a $26.8 million in its seventh frame.
Among new offerings, Picturehouse docu "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show" didn't evoke much laughter as it grossed an estimated $507,277 from 962 theaters for a meager per screen average of $527.
Paris Hilton starrer "The Hottie and the Nottie" fared even poorly, grossing an estimated $26,000 from 111 runs in its debut for a per screen average of $234. Regent is distributor.
Focus Features, on the other hand, saw a strong opening for Martin McDonagh's comedy actioner "In Bruges." Toplining Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleason and Ralph Fiennes, film grossed an estimated $471,200 from 28 theaters for a per screen average of $16,829, the highest of the weekend of any film.
Sony Pictures Classics likewise was happy with opening numbers for "A Band's Visit." Film grossed an estimated $70,580 from seven locations for a per screen average of $10,083.
