Hip-hop lures the few who skipped the Super Bowl

“You Got Served,” a $7.8-million-budget movie about a hip-hop dance contest, came out of nowhere to gross $16.123 million, topping this weekend’s box office charts and setting a record for a new film opening on a Super Bowl weekend. The previous record-holder, “She’s All That,” pulled in $16.065 million in January 1999.

The success of the movie, which played in 1,933 theaters, was marred slightly by minor disturbances at AMC Galleria South Bay 16 in Redondo Beach and a Pacific Theatre at the Lakewood Center mall.

Four officers instituted crowd control at the Lakewood complex during “minor altercations,” according to Lt. Mark Weldon of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “It wasn’t pandemonium or an all-out free-for-all,” he added; no arrests were made.

Rick King, a spokesman for AMC Theatres, said a number of these incidents are “probably inevitable” in any large crowd -- adding that he doubted this one was related to the Screen Gems film -- a nonviolent movie in which conflicts are resolved on the dance floor rather than in the streets.

The tension-packed New England Patriots-Carolina Panthers match-up and the re-release or expansion of Oscar-nominated pictures contributed to a lackluster opening for two other movies in wide release. Paramount Pictures’ “The Perfect Score,” in which a group of teens scheme to hijack the SAT, came in at the low end of expectations, taking in $4.9 million in 2,208 theaters for a fifth-place finish.

Industry observers suggested that “You’ve Got Served,” aimed at the same age demographic, siphoned off some of its audience. Warner Bros.’ “The Big Bounce,” a comedy starring Morgan Freeman, fared even worse, drawing $3.3 million on 2,304 screens.

“Even though we were prepared for it, that’s a disappointing number,” conceded Dan Fellman, president of distribution for Warner Bros. “These things happen and we move on.”

“You Got Served” may have been the only African American-themed movie in the marketplace, Screen Gems’ Valerie Van Galder noted. But it was the youth market, in general -- the 13- to 20-year-old target audience -- that put it over the top. A grass-roots dance competition, promoted by local radio stations, proved an effective marketing tool, Van Galder said.

Screen Gems picked the finalists, who eventually appeared on MTV’s popular “Total Request Live.” And Omarion, star of B2K -- the band featured in the film -- will feature the winner in his next video. A soundtrack album, released by Sony Records in December, also raised awareness.

“We were flying under the radar of grown-ups, but all the kids knew about it,” Van Galder said. “Hip-hop -- and dancing in general -- crosses racial lines. ‘Flashdance,’ ‘Dirty Dancing,’ ‘Footloose’ are fun. They come out of nowhere to surprise people.”

The success of the top film, however, didn’t make for a strong weekend overall, says Dan Marks, executive vice president of Nielsen EDI, a box office tracking firm.

“We were down about 4% from last year’s Super Bowl weekend. And January was down 8% from last year. That’s not a good sign, obviously.”

However, Bruce Snyder, president of domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox, put a brighter spin on the numbers. When the 10th place finisher grosses $4 million instead of the usual $2 million, he points out, it says “there’s a lot of business out there.”

Warner Bros.’ Fellman agreed. “One bad Sunday feeds the following Sunday” and makes that weekend better, he said.

“After that, we have the [Presidents Day] holiday weekend, which is always good for moviegoing. Box office, I predict, will rebound.”

Times staff writer Erin Ailworth contributed to this report.