HOLLYWOOD - Barbershop opened to a hair-raising $21 million that had the MGM lion roaring happily in first place. My Big Fat Greek Wedding continued celebrating in second place with $11 million. With nearly $111 million already in hand, it's heading for $140 million.
One Hour Photo went wide and was an impressive third with $7.7 million.
Stealing Harvard kicked off uneventfully in fourth place to $6.3 million.
Swimfan sank into deeper box office waters, placing fifth in its second weekend with $6.1 million.
Driven by Barbershop, key films (those grossing $500,000 or more) were up 30 percent from last year -- $77.6 million versus $59.5 million. It was Hollywood's first up weekend after eighth consecutive weekends in which business was down from last year.
THE TOP TEN
MGM's PG-13 rated urban appeal comedy Barbershop opened atop the chart to a head-turning ESTIMATED $21.0 million at 1,605 theaters ($13,084 per theater).
Directed by Tim Story, it stars Ice Cube, Anthony Anderson, Sean Patrick Thomas, Eve and Cedric The Entertainer.
Barbershop's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
A double-barreled success for us this weekend," MGM theatrical distribution president Eric Lomis said Sunday morning, referring to MGM's strong openings for both Barbershop and the limited release of United Artists' Igby Goes Down (see OTHER OPENINGS below).
"Obviously, we're thrilled with the number," Lomis said about Barbershop. "I mean, $21 million for this movie is just through the roof. It's a great movie. People love it. The filmmakers did a tremendous job on it. We couldn't be more pleased with the opening. It's doing most of its business with African-Americans and Hispanics. However, it is crossing over. We have a lot of really strong numbers from cross-over houses.
"And word of mouth is through the roof on this picture. The CinemaScores are great. The exit polls are great. And they're equally as great with both African-Americans and non-African-Americans. So we think the picture's going to run for a while. They delivered a great film. And the cast really worked hard on it. And (the result is) success."
Asked if MGM will go wider with Barbershop, Lomis replied, "We're going to try to expand a little bit. We're everywhere now. We just didn't saturate the market with it. But we're going to try to take a few hundred more runs this week."
IFC Films' release of Gold Circle Films and HBO's PG rated romantic comedy blockbuster My Big Fat Greek Wedding held on to second place in its 22nd week, still showing fantastic legs with an ESTIMATED $11.03 million (+6%) at 1,764 theaters (+69 theaters; $6,254 per theater). Its cume is approximately $110.7 million, heading for $140 million in domestic theaters.
If Wedding can crack $140.53 million, it will overtake Artisan Entertainment's The Blair Witch Project to become the domestic box office's biggest grossing independent film ever.
Directed by Joel Zwick, it stars Nia Vardalos and John Corbett.
Fox Searchlight Pictures' R rated thriller One Hour Photo went wide in its fourth week, developing a very encouraging ESTIMATED $7.68 million at 1,212 theaters (+1,039 theaters; $6,337 per theater). Its cume is approximately $14.2 million.
Written and directed by Mark Romanek, it stars Robin Williams.
