‘Engagement’ Still Rules in a Weekend Geared for Adults

Hollywood seems to have forgotten teenagers for the moment, opening four movies aimed at adults over the same weekend, all of which cannibalized each other’s business. The bottleneck enabled the courtroom drama “Rules of Engagement” to remain atop the weak heap with an estimated $10.9 million in 3,190 theaters, for a strong 10-day total of more than $30 million.

Of the new films, the only one to top $10 million was the sobering comedy-drama “28 Days,” starring Sandra Bullock, which capitalized on her star power with the female audience. “Days” took in an estimated $10.4 million in 2,523 theaters in its first three days despite mixed reviews. The debut is somewhat below Bullock’s other recent films such as “Forces of Nature” and “Practical Magic,” both of which opened above $13 million.

The ecumenical romantic comedy “Keeping the Faith,” starring and directed by Edward Norton, tried to attract the holiday crowd, managing to total $8.2 million in 2,152 theaters. The middling take came despite an extensive marketing campaign, previews and generally upbeat notices--though Disney says the adults who went to see it gave it high marks on the way out.

But “Keeping the Faith’s” opening was heaven compared to the debut for the Paul Newman comedy “Where the Money Is,” which is projecting $2.7 million on 1,538 screens, appealing mostly to a much older suburban audience.

Somewhere in between was “American Psycho,” the satirical reinterpretation of Bret Easton Ellis’ blatantly misogynistic serial killer tome. The independently made drama starring Christian Bale snared all-over-the-map reviews and much media attention. But that could only take the film so far. First weekend was a good-enough $4.9 million on only 1,236 screens, with the biggest take coming, predictably, in Manhattan (where the film is set) and other major cities.

The adult-heavy roster at the box office also includes such holdovers as Steven Soderbergh’s “Erin Brockovich,” which picked up another $7 million or so in its fifth weekend on 3,070 screens. It is now within whispering distance of $100 million, which it should surpass in the next couple of days, making it the top-grossing movie of the new year.

Second weekend on another romantic comedy, “Return to Me,” starring David Duchovny, still had heart, bringing in about $5.25 million in 2,320 theaters for a total to date of $15.5 million.

The John Cusack film “High Fidelity” continues to get a bullet from rock and movie mavens, resulting in approximately $2.8 million in its third weekend, in 1,229 theaters for a so-so $16.9 million tally to date.

Like the stock market, it was a bearish box office weekend, with the top 12 movies grossing approximately $68 million, according to Exhibitor Relations, just slightly behind last year, when hit films such as “Life,” “The Matrix” and “Never Been Kissed” were courting teens and city folk.

Easter-break teens had to make do with “Skulls,” which hit an estimated $4 million in its third weekend on 2,413 screens for a pretty good $25.7 million so far. The wrestling comedy “Ready to Rumble” appeared ready for home video based on the second weekend dive to approximately $2.6 million in 2,585 theaters and a 10-day total of about $9 million.

With the lack of viable teen fare, it’s no wonder that “Final Destination” is still chugging along in its fifth weekend, dropping only 26% despite losing one fourth of its play dates, and benefiting from the well-attended sneaks Saturday night for the thriller “Frequency.” Now on 1,509 screens, “Final” still has a ways to go before it’s through with a predicted $2.8 million over the weekend and $38 million to date.

For kids and their parents, all roads led to “The Road to El Dorado,” which hung in with $6.2 million forecast in its third weekend in 3,223 theaters and a modest tally to date of $33 million.

Among the specialized films, the culture-clash comedy “East Is East” debuted over the weekend on four screens in New York and Los Angeles with a promising $52,000.