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Sandra Bullock and her sequel, 'Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous', holds second-place.
LOS ANGELES (AP):
The Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher comedy Guess Who, an update to the 1967 classic Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, debuted at number one with US$21 million, according to studio estimates yesterday.
Sandra Bullock's sequel, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, opened in second place with US$14.5 million for Friday to Sunday. That brought the movie's total to US$17.6 million since it opened Thursday to get a head start on Easter weekend.
The previous weekend's top flick, The Ring 2, slipped to third with US$13.8 million, lifting its 10-day total to US$58 million.
It was a solid but unremarkable Easter weekend, generally a slow time at theaters because families are preoccupied with holiday gatherings. The top 12 movies took in US$90.1 million, off 7 per cent from Easter weekend last year, when The Passion of the Christ was number one.
Guess Who stars Mac as a black father who learns his daughter's boyfriend, Kutcher, is white. It is a reversal of the scenario of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, which starred Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier in the story about a white woman engaged to a black man.
While the original was heavy on social commentary amid the civil-rights movement, Guess Who plays the interracial romance angle for slapstick laughs.
"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is the inspiration, but this is very broad comedy that plays really well in kind of the buddy mode as well as the romantic comedy mode," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, which released Guess Who.
In Miss Congeniality 2, Bullock returns to her role as a tomboy FBI agent who gets a fashion makeover. This time, she is teamed with a surly partner, Regina King, to track down a kidnapped beauty queen.
The sequel had a better opening weekend than the original, which debuted with just over US$10 million on Christmas weekend 2000, then hung on through word of mouth to become a $100 million hit.
Woody Allen's comedy-drama hybrid Melinda and Melinda had a strong expansion from its debut at one New York City theater the previous weekend. The film, which stars Radha Mitchell in dual roles, widened to 95 theaters in 12 cities and took in US$790,000.
The Ballad of Jack and Rose, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, debuted well in limited release, taking in US$60,461 in four theaters. Written and directed by Rebecca Miller, Day-Lewis' wife and the daughter of playwright Arthur Miller, the film centres on the relationship between a dying environmental idealist and his troubled teenage daughter.
The blood-soaked South Korean vengeance thriller Oldboy, runner-up to Fahrenheit 9/11 for the top prize at last spring's Cannes Film Festival, debuted solidly in limited release with US$75,000 in five theaters.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.
1. Guess Who, US$21 million
2. Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, US$14.5 million
3. The Ring 2, US$13.8 million
4. Robots, US$13 million
5. The Pacifier, US$8.5 million
6. Hitch, US$4.3 million
7. Hostage, US$4.1 million
8. Ice Princess, US$3.7 million
9. Be Cool, US$2.85 million .
10. Million Dollar Baby, US$2.6 million.
