(AP):MILLIONS OF Americans went shopping for comedy this weekend, giving the star-studded Meet the Fockers the record for the best Christmas weekend opening ever.
The sequel, reuniting Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro and adding Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand as Stiller's parents, earned US$44.7 million over the holiday weekend, beating the previous record of US$30 million, set in 2002 by Catch Me if You Can.
The movie's performance was even more impressive when measured against the overall weekend box office, which was down 26.5 per cent from last year.
"When Christmas falls on a weekend, it's bad for business," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
This weekend's top 12 films grossed an estimated US$121.9 million, compared to last year's $165.8 million when Christmas fell on a Thursday. Last year's figure was skewed a bit by the third Lord of the Rings movie, which earned $50.6 million in its second weekend last year.
Meet the Fockers knocked last week's top film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events to third place, with $12.5 million.
Second place was taken by the live-action version of Fat Albert, which debuted Saturday with a two-day total of US$12.7 million, according to studio estimates.
Final figures were to be released today.
Meet the Fockers succeeded in part because of an aggressive ad campaign, including the release of the DVD of the original Meet the Parents as well as the return of Streisand to the big screen after an eight-year absence.
It also captured the clash between families, which resonates at the holidays.
Meet the Fockers opened Wednesday, bringing its five-day total to US$68.5 million.
The Aviator the epic tale of billionaire Howard Hughes, did well enough in limited release to take fourth place with US$9.4 million. The movie, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, expanded from 40 theatres to 1,796 on Christmas Day.
The small budget horror flick Darkness went against the slew of family films on the market now and attracted US$6.4 million in its opening weekend. The movie opened Saturday.
The lavish Andrew Lloyd Weber musical The Phantom of the Opera also debuted in limited release, bringing in US$4.2 million from 622 theatres. It debuted Wednesday, bringing its five-day total to US$6.5 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theatres, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.
1. Meet the Fockers, US$44.7 million
2. Fat Albert, US$12.7 million.
3. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, US$12.5 million
4. The Aviator, US$9.4 million.
5. Ocean's Twelve, US$8.6 million.
6. Darkness, US$6.4 million.
7. The Polar Express, US$6.3 million.
8. Spanglish, US$5 million
9. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, US$4.8 million.
10. Andrew Lloyd Weber's The Phantom of the Opera, US$4.2 million.
