Scott Rosenberg
jon
Weekend box-office: Battle of the sexes,women win!
It was the weekend of chick flick vs machismo movie openings, and the chicks won.
Quirky, baby-desperate women in ‘Baby Mama’ won out over dopey, pot-smoking men in ‘Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.’
Mama grossed $18.3 million from 2,543 locations in its first frame while Harold & Kumar took in $14.6 from 2,510 venues.
Trackers report that more than two-thirds of Mama’s audience where women while H&K pulled in almost the same percentage of males
"Sorry, guys, but this was a ladies' weekend," said Nikki Rocco, distribution chief for Universal Pictures, which released Mama and ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall,’ another female-driven comedy that was number four at this weekend’s box-office with $11 million from 2,799 locations pulling in a total of $35.1 million in its second week.
“Mama star Tina Fey is a real talent. She's showing she can do TV and the movies really well."
‘Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay’ is a sequel to Warner Bros. 2004 R-rated ‘Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,’ which did $18.4 million and became a home video hit with young men.
"Given all the female comedies out there, we couldn't be happier," says Warner Bros.' Dan Fellman. "We know most of the people who came were 18 to 35, but we didn't check how many were on parole."
The Jackie Chan and Jet Li fueled ‘Forbidden Kingdom’ was third with $11.2 million from 3.151 locations brining its two week cume to $38.3 million, while Jodie Foster's ‘Nim's Island’ in its fourth release week pulled in $4.5 million from 2,977 bringing its cume to $39 million..
The Ewan McGregor-Hugh Jackman thriller ‘Deception,’ was a flop with $2.3 million, good for 10th place.
Ticket sales were up 34% over the same weekend last year.
