20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises' PG-13 rated thriller High Crimes arrived in second place to an arresting ESTIMATED $15.02 million at 2,717 theaters ($5,526 per theater).
Directed by Carl Franklin, it stars Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman.
"We were hoping for $15 million," Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder said Sunday. "It's right where we'd like to be."
Asked who the film's audience was, Snyder replied, "58 percent female, 65 percent over 30. Adult female."
20th Century Fox's PG rated animated feature Ice Age fell one rung to third place in its fourth week with a still enviable ESTIMATED $14.32 million (-21%) at 3,200 theaters (-133 theaters; $4,473 per theater). Its cume is approximately $141.4 million, heading for $175 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Chris Wedge, it features the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary.
"Audiences love it ," Fox's Bruce Snyder said. "It seems to withstand (competition as other) family movies have come in behind it and Rookie being a pretty strong movie, also. But, at the end of the day, they just like Ice Age. The characters are great. It's fun."
Buena Vista/Disney's G rated family appeal baseball drama The Rookie slid one slot to fourth place in its second week, holding very well with an ESTIMATED $11.7 million (-26%) at 2,524 theaters (+13 theaters; $4,647 per theater). Its cume is approximately $35.0 million.
Directed by John Lee Hancock, it stars Dennis Quaid.
Artisan Entertainment's opening of its R rated youth appeal comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder was celebrating in fifth place with an ESTIMATED $7.5 million at 2,022 theaters ($3,710 per theater).
Directed by Walt Becker, it stars Ryan Reynolds and Tara Reid.
"It's a very solid opening. We're very happy with it," Artisan domestic theatrical distribution president Steve Rothenberg said Sunday morning. "We did exit polls and it appears that people really liked the movie. It's a very funny comedy and we're very happy with the way the film opened.
"In the Top Two boxes we have 78 percent excellent and very good (which) is definitely above the norms. As far as definite recommend, we were at 70 percent and the norm is 45 percent. So we were above the norms on definite recommend, as well. That leads us to believe that we should have good word of mouth going into next week."
As for demographics, "it's about a 60-40 split male to female," Rothenberg said. "And the audience was almost entirely made up of 18-to-34 year olds, which is not surprising."
Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies' PG rated time travel adventure Clockstoppers dropped one peg to sixth place in its second week, showing good legs with an ESTIMATED $7.3 million (-28%) at 2,563 theaters (+23 theaters; $2,848 per theater). Its cume is approximately $22.5 million, heading for $40 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Jonathan Frakes, it stars Jesse Bradford, Paula Garces, French Stewart, Michael Biehn and Robin Thomas.
"A very nice hold, actually, coming off the Good Friday holiday last week (when many schools were closed)," Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen said Sunday morning. "We took a big hit on Friday, but Saturday and Sunday held up very well. Pictures of this genre have an extended life. You can play the matinees and weekends -- like Jimmy Neutron, it's still in a number of theaters playing matinees. We could be looking at $40 million on (Clockstoppers), I think, over its lifetime."