Universal's comedy Baby Mama took the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office with an estimated $18.3 million from 2,543 theaters. The Tina Fey/Amy Poehler film gave Universal its first top opener of the year.
Variety reports Baby Mama had no problems reaching its intended audience with females making up 68% of the weekend ticket buyers.
The PG-13 rated Baby Mama managed to have the second-best opening for a romantic comedy in April after 13 Going on 30. The film is powered by the popularity and talents of Fey and Poehler and deals with the politics of surrogate motherhood and the maternal urge.
Baby Mama is only the second live-action studio film for Fey (Mean Girls). The film was directed by Michael McCullers – who co-wrote the script with Fey.
In Variety, Universal president of distribution Nikki Rocco stated: "I think Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were the big draw. The marketing campaign said to auds, 'You are going to be entertained.'”
New Line/Warner Bros.' R-rated stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay took the No. 2 spot with an estimated $14.6 million from 2,510 theaters.
Baby Mama brought the women to the theater, but Harold & Kumar worked its laughs with the younger male audience. Men ages 18-35 made up 65% of the film’s ticket buyers.
The Harold & Kumar sequel was written and directed by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden and starred John Cho and Kal Penn. With the strong opening, the film is predicted to have a stronger box office run than Harold & Kumar go to White Castle – which took in only an estimated $18 million at the box office but had long legs on DVD.
The Guantanamo Bay sequel cost $12 million to produce, and is the first title distributed by Warner Bros for New Line since it was disbanded as a studio and converted to a Warner label.
In Variety, Warner’s president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman stated: "New Line was very smart in making this movie. When the merger came through, we did the campaign and we increased the spend. We are glad the first New Line release worked out so well and that the transition is going so smoothly."
Lionsgate's Jet Li/Jackie Chan adventure-fantasy Forbidden Kingdom continued to kick box office butt placing at No. 3 and narrowly beating out Universal’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
The film was produced by Casey Silver and financed by Relativity Media. It did decline 48% in its second weekend with an estimated $11.2 million from 3,151. The first time pairing between Li and Chan has managed to take in $38.2 million since it was released.
The Judd Apatow-produced Sarah Marshall took the No. 4 spot, but could be bumped to No. 3 when the final weekend numbers are posted.
The weekend's other new wide release, Deception, had a rough start in its opening weekend with an estimated $2.2 million from 2,001 runs giving the film a No. 10 placing.
Produced by Arnold Rifkin and distributed by 20th Century Fox, Deception has the stars to draw the audience thanks to Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, and Michelle Williams.
In Variety, Twentieth Century Fox senior VP of distribution Bert Livingston stated the studio was disappointed with the film’s opening weekend.
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)