In the face of the weekend's two blockbuster arrivals, MGM's PG-13 rated comedy hit Legally Blonde fell two pegs to third place in its second week with a still sexy ESTIMATED $11.05 million (-46%) at 2,695 theaters (+75 theaters; $4,100 per theater). Its cume is approximately $43.4 million, heading for $70-75 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Robert Luketic, the Marc Platt production stars Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber and Jennifer Coolidge with a special appearance by Raquel Welch.
"It held up great during the week and even held up well on Wednesday against the massive opening of Jurassic Park III," MGM worldwide theatrical marketing and distribution president Bob Levin said Sunday morning.
"As we look now at what happened this weekend, I think given the (blockbuster) opening of Jurassic Park III and the right on demographic target opening of America's Sweethearts, this kind of drop is totally acceptable and gives us a good feeling that we won't see anything this significant (in terms of a drop) in the future and that we'll be holding up pretty well."
Paramount's R rated crime drama The Score slid two rungs to fourth place in its second week with an okay ESTIMATED $10.75 million (-43%) at 2,160 theaters (+31 theaters; $4,977 per theater). Its cume is approximately $37.2 million.
Directed by Frank Oz, it stars Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Angela Bassett and Marlon Brando.
Cats & Dogs, the PG rated family appeal comedy from Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures and NPV Entertainment dropped two notches to fifth place in its third week, still showing its teeth with an ESTIMATED $6.77 million (-44%) at 3,040 theaters (theater count unchanged; $2,227 per theater). Its cume is approximately $72.4 million, heading for $100 million in domestic theaters.
"The picture performs like the weather report. It rained in the Miami area and the Jacksonville area and we were up 58 percent (on Saturday) from Friday. In Boston the weather was still fantastic and we were up (only) 19 percent," Warner Bros. Distribution president Dan Fellman said Sunday morning. "That's what happens with this movie. It's going to be around a very long time. Families like it. Kids like it. We're doing repeat business. It'll play a long time. There's nothing coming in that's going to hurt us."