HOLLYWOOD - Racy R-rated comedies are all the rage this summer.Following in the footsteps of the wacky The Wedding Crashers, The 40 Year-Old Virgin--about a 40-year-old (played by the hilarious Steve Carrell) trying to lose his virginity--opened at No. 1 with $20.6 million. The tightly wound thriller Red-Eye, from director Wes Craven, debuted in second place with $16.5 million.
"Forty-year-old virgins everywhere are celebrating the No. 1 opening of their hero," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations told The Associated Press. "This is a movie that's a conversation piece. People are going to be telling other people, quoting different lines and scenes," he added. "That's what's going to sustain it in the marketplace."
The other openers this weekend did not fare as well. Disney's CGI-animated Valiant only managed to debut in seventh place with $6 million, while the Motorcross movie Supercross didn't even make the top 10, despite opening on Wednesday. It's total take was $1.3 million.
The Top 12 films grossed an estimated $98.7 million, down 2.72 percent from last year's draw of $101.5 million and down 5.71 percent from last weekend's $104.7 million.
The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: Warner Bros.' R-rated Exorcist: The Beginning, which opened in the No. 1 spot with $18 million in 2,803 theaters, averaging $6,441 per theater; Paramount Pictures' PG-13 rated Without a Paddle, which opened in second with $13.5 million in 2,730 theaters, averaging $4,956 per theater; and Buena Vista's G- rated The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which dropped to third place in its second week with $13 million in 3,490 theaters, averaging $3,740 per theater. (Click here to read last year's box office report)
(This week's box office Top 10 below...)
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: The 40 Year-Old Virgin (Universal, R)
• Gross: $20.6 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,845
• Per-theater average: $7,241
No. 2: Red-Eye (DreamWorks, PG-13)
• Gross: $16.5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,079
• Per-theater average: $5,359
No. 3: Four Brothers (Paramount, R)
• Gross: $13 million (-39%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,649 (+116)
• Per-theater average: $4,908
• Cume to date: $43.6 million
No. 4: The Wedding Crashers (New Line, R)
• Gross: $8.2 million (-30%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 2,920 (-211)
• Per-theater average: $2,834
• Cume to date: $177.9 million
No. 5: The Skeleton Key (Universal Pictures, PG-13)
• Gross: $7.4 million (-54%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,774 (+3)
• Per-theater average: $2,668
• Cume to date: $30.1 million
No. 6: March of the Penguins (Warner Independent, G)
• Gross: $6.6 million (-2%)
• Weeks opened: 13
• Theaters: 2,102 (+39)
• Per-theater average: $3,178
• Cume to date: $48.6 million
No. 7: Valiant (Buena Vista, G)
• Gross: $6 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,014
• Per-theater average: $3,024
No. 8: The Dukes of Hazzard (Warner Bros., PG-13)
• Gross: $5.7 million (-56%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 3,404 (-381)
• Per-theater average: $1,688
• Cume to date: $68.8 million
No. 9: Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (Warner Bros., PG-13)
• Gross: $4.5 million (-39%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 2,575 (-729)
• Per-theater average: $1,763
• Cume to date: $192.7 million
No. 10: Sky High (Buena Vista, PG)
• Gross: $4 million (-36%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 2,145 (-662)
• Per-theater average: $1,869
• Cume to date: $43.3 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Supercross (20th Century Fox, PG-13)
• Gross: $1.3 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 1,621
• Per-theater average: $817