Given the choice, we head for ‘Sin City’

The choices for moviegoers this weekend probably couldn’t have been more sharply different, with the stylized graphic violence of the tough hookers and rough guys of “Sin City” coming out way ahead of the brassy feminine guile of “Beauty Shop.” “Sin City,” which features a large ensemble cast led by Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba and Rosario Dawson, brought in an estimated $28.1 million over the weekend, according to Miramax projections.

“Beauty Shop,” a spinoff of MGM’s “Barbershop” films, grossed an estimated $13.4 million from Friday through Sunday and $17.2 million since it opened Wednesday. That film stars Queen Latifah at the head of an ensemble cast, with the action shifted from Chicago to a neighborhood salon in Atlanta.

General consensus among the studios going into the weekend was that the R-rated “Sin City” would attract large numbers of young males, although Miramax/Dimension executives said Sunday that demographic information was not yet available for the movie, which is drawn from popular graphic novels by Frank Miller and was directed by Miller and Robert Rodriguez.

“Beauty Shop,” directed by Bille Woodruff and rated PG-13, as expected drew an audience that was largely female (68%) and African American (67%), according to unscientific exit surveys. Slightly more than half of those surveyed were ages 25 to 35, but the company didn’t break out other age ranges in detail.

The films couldn’t be much more different, but the studios releasing them have something in common: Each is reaching the end of a historic era.

MGM has been sold to Sony, bringing down the curtain on the fabled company as a standalone studio, and Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein last week finalized their plans to exit the company named for their parents after lengthy separation negotiations with Disney, which purchased the vanguard independent company in 1993. Disney will install new leadership at Miramax, which is expected to remain headquartered in New York as a separate unit of Burbank-based Disney.

In third place, “Guess Who” grossed an estimated $13 million in its second weekend, for a 10-day total of $41.3 million, Sony reported.

Remaining in fourth place in its fourth weekend, “Robots” took in an estimated $10 million, with Fox attributing a 51% increase in business from Friday to Saturday to sneak previews for “Fever Pitch,” the new romantic comedy from the Farrelly brothers that stars Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon. Numbers for sneak previews are not usually broken out of the overall numbers for the films with which they play. “Robots” crossed the $100-million mark over the weekend, and the computer-animated movie’s tally stands at just less than $105 million.

Fox said informal theater surveys indicated strong female appeal for “Fever Pitch,” which opens Friday, but interest from males increased at Saturday showings. Based on the novel by Nick Hornby, the U.S. movie version was adapted by screenwriting partners Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, who shifted the story’s sports backdrop from soccer to baseball.

“Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous” slipped to fifth place in its second weekend, taking in an estimated $8.4 million, Warner Bros. reported, bringing its 11-day total to $31.4 million.

Business overall is down just 2% for the year but it’s the sixth straight weekend that the box office total has trailed that of the corresponding weekend in 2004, according to box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI. Only on four weekends this year have the box-office totals surpassed the corresponding 2004 numbers.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Sin City $28.1 $28.1

Beauty Shop 13.4 17.2

Guess Who 13 41.3

Robots 10 104.6

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous 8.4 31.4

The Pacifier 6.1 96.4

The Ring Two 5.8 68.1

The Upside of Anger 4.1 8.7

Hitch 3 171.4

Ice Princess 2.6 18.6

*--*

Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.

Los Angeles Times