From left: Jean Reno (Inspector Panton); Steve Martin (Jacques Clouseau) and Beyoncé Knowles (Xania) in the movie 'Pink Panther'. - CONTRIBUTED
LOS ANGELES (AP):
INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU bumbled his way to the top of the box office as Steve Martin's The Pink Panther debuted with US$21.7 million to lead a rush of new releases.
New Line's horror sequel Final Destination 3 ran a close second with US$20.1 million, followed by Universal's animated Curious George at Number 3 with US$15.3 million and the Warner Bros. thriller Firewall starring Harrison Ford in fourth with US$13.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
MARTIN'S ROLE
Sony's The Pink Panther stars Martin in the role defined by Peter Sellers, whose French detective Clouseau was the idiot-savant hero of a string of 1960s and '70s comedy hits by Blake Edwards, who continued the franchise into the '80s and '90s after Sellers' death.
The remake drew a broad audience, with parents and their children accounting for 51 percent of the crowds and viewers evenly divided between those older and younger than 25.
The top 10 was dominated by five family-friendly films: The Pink Panther, Curious George, 20th Century Fox's Big Momma's House 2, Universal's Nanny McPhee and the Weinstein Co. animated tale Hoodwinked and three horror flicks Final Destination 3 and Sony's When a Stranger Calls and Underworld Evolution.
Box office leaders
1. The Pink Panther, US$21.7 million.
2. Final Destination 3, US$20.1 million.
3. Curious George, US$15.3 million.
4. Firewall, US$13.8 million.
5. When a Stranger Calls, US$10 million.
6. Big Momma's House 2, US$6.8 million.
7. Nanny McPhee, US$5.2 million.
8. Brokeback Mountain, US$4.2 million.
9. Hoodwinked, US$2.502 million.
10. Underworld Evolution,
US$2.5 million.
