LOS ANGELES (AP):
Failure to Launch, a romantic comedy starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker, took off at theatres, debuting as the top weekend movie with US$24.6 million.
Two remakes opened in second and third place. Disney's family flick The Shaggy Dog, starring Tim Allen, was No. 2 with US$16 million, and Fox Searchlight's horror tale The Hills Have Eyes was No. 3 with US$15.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Failure to Launch, released by Paramount, bumped off Lionsgate's Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, which had been the No. 1 movie the previous two weekends. That movie slipped to No. 5, grossing US$5.8 million to raise its total to US$55.8 million.
POOR REVIEWS
Reviews were generally poor for all three new films, but they overcame the weak critical reception to combine for a healthy US$56.1 million. Still, they were unable to match last year's top three, Robots, The Pacifier and Be Cool, which combined for US$64.4 million over the same weekend.
The top 12 movies this weekend grossed US$92.4 million, down 10.7 per cent compared to the same weekend in 2005. After a strong start this year, Hollywood has slid back into the slump that persisted last year, when domestic attendance fell 7 per cent compared to 2004.
While revenues are up slightly this year, factoring in higher ticket prices, attendance is down about one per cent compared to 2005, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"You don't want a repeat of what happened last year," Dergarabedian said. "It's still early in the year to call it, but every weekend it's down is chipping away at the advantage we had early on this year."
VARIETY
The three new wide releases offered solid variety for audiences, with Failure to Launch drawing the date crowd, The Shaggy Dog grabbing parents and their children and The Hills Have Eyes bringing in horror fans.
Failure to Launch stars McConaughey as a 35-year-old still living with his parents, who hire a bombshell (Parker) to entice him into moving out. The audience was two-thirds female, according to distributor Paramount.
"There hasn't been a good date movie in a while, and I think women just felt like it was going to be a fun movie," said Rob Moore, the studio's worldwide head of marketing and distribution.
The Shaggy Dog features Allen, Robert Downey Jr. and Parker's Sex and the City co-star Kristin Davis in an update of the 1959 Disney original and sequel, The Shaggy D.A. Allen plays a prosecutor transformed by a canine bite into a goofy sheepdog.
The Hills Have Eyes updates Wes Craven's 1977 horror story, about a family whose road trip takes a grisly detour when they encounter mutant cannibals. Craven serves as a producer on the remake.
