‘Baby Mama’ emerges in No. 1 spot

The Tina Fey-Amy Poehler comedy “Baby Mama” delivered for Universal Pictures, topping the weekend box office with estimated ticket sales of $18.3 million despite competition from two other high-profile comedies.

Some analysts and executives at rival studios had expressed doubts about Universal’s strategy of releasing its odd couple story a week after opening another female-skewing comedy, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” and on the same weekend as the Warner Bros. stoner comedy “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay,” which opened at No. 2 with $14.6 million.

The strong launch for “Baby Mama” -- coupled with a modest drop for producer Judd Apatow’s “Sarah Marshall” in its second weekend -- vindicated the strategy.

“This pokes a huge hole in that old myth that you can’t open two comedies back to back or one comedy against another,” said Nikki Rocco, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “The market did expand.”

Overall, the industry ended a dismal spring season on an up note, as box-office revenue rose from the same weekend a year earlier for the second straight time. Heading into summer, year-to-date revenue is down about 3% from 2007 and attendance is off 5%, according to data tracker Media by Numbers.

The PG-13-rated “Baby Mama,” produced for about $30 million, drew an audience estimated at 68% female and 45% younger than 25, the studio said.

Meanwhile, the R-rated “Harold & Kumar,” a sequel to the cult favorite “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” skewed heavily male and younger than 35, as expected.

The film, produced for about $12 million, will surpass the original at the box office within its first week, said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. The first one, released in July 2004, opened with $5.5 million and grossed $18.3 million altogether in the U.S. and Canada before becoming a hot-selling DVD.

The sequel averaged an A-minus in audience surveys taken by CinemaScore, which bodes well for word of mouth. “Baby Mama” got a B-plus.

“Harold” was the first release of a New Line Cinema production through Warner Bros. since New Line was recently folded into its bigger sibling by corporate parent Time Warner Inc. Warner will also handle this summer’s “Sex and the City” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D.”

Last weekend’s top movie, the Jackie Chan-Jet Li adventure “The Forbidden Kingdom” from Lionsgate Films and Weinstein Co., hauled in an additional $11.2 million with a drop of 48%, bringing its 10-day total to $38.3 million.

That was apparently good enough for third over “Sarah Marshall,” which grossed an estimated $11 million after slipping only 38%. Studios issue weekend estimates early Sunday, including projections for that day, and official three-day results each Monday.

The other new nationwide release, 20th Century Fox’s erotic thriller “Deception,” starring Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams, fooled most analysts, who expected an opening of $4 million to $5 million. Instead, it mustered only $2.2 million to rank No. 10.

The summer season starts this week with a traditional matchup: the popcorn extravaganza and the “counterprogramming” effort.

Paramount Pictures’ “Iron Man,” officially slated for release Friday, will come out Thursday night with preview showings at many theaters, and Sony Pictures will counter with the female-oriented romantic comedy “Made of Honor,” starring Patrick Dempsey.

--

josh.friedman@latimes.com

--

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Box-office results

“Baby Mama” and “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” both opened toward the upper end of industry predictions. “Deception” was a big disappointment. Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:

*--* --- Movie 3-day gross Total Weeks --- (studio) (mill.) (mill.) --- 1 Baby Mama $18.3 $18.3 1 -- (Universal) --- --- --- 2 Harold & Kumar $14.6 $14.6 1 -- Escape From -- -- -- --- Guantanamo Bay -- -- --- (Warner Bros.) -- -- --- 3 Forbidden Kingdom $11.2 $38.3 2 -- (Lionsgate/Weinstein) --- --- --- 4 Forgetting Sarah $11.0 $35.1 2 --- Marshall --- --- --- --- (Universal) --- --- --- 5 Nim’s Island $4.5 $39.0 4 -- (20th Cent. Fox) -- -- --- 6 Prom Night (Sony) $4.4 $38.1 3 7 21 (Sony) $4.0 $75.8 5 8 88 Minutes (Sony) $3.6 $12.6 2 9 Horton Hears a Who! $2.4 $147.9 7 --- (20th Century Fox) --- -- --- 10 Deception $2.2 $2.2 1 --- (20th Cent. Fox) -- -- --- *--*

Industry totals

*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2007 (in billions) from 2007 $91.0 +17.2% $2.59 -2.7% *--*

--

Source: Media by Numbers

Los Angeles Times