$51 MILLION: THAT’S ONE POWERFUL ‘SMITH’ JONES

“Mr. & Mrs. Smith” rode an avalanche of pre-release publicity about the off-screen relationship of its costars to a smashing $51.05-million opening weekend that also represented a career-best number for Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and director Doug Liman.

Looking strictly at Friday-through-Sunday figures, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” had the second-best three-day weekend this year, behind only “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith,” giving 20th Century Fox the top two Friday-Sunday openings of 2005, according to tracking service Nielsen EDI Inc. Among all weekends including four-day holiday periods, it was the fourth-best opening behind “Sith,” “Madagascar” and “The Longest Yard,” if Sunday estimates hold up.

The romantic action comedy -- about a marriage caught in the cross hairs as two highly proficient assassins suddenly learn each is the other’s prime target -- was apparently just the sort of escapist fare moviegoers were looking for. And the significantly higher-than-expected gross the film delivered represented a welcome surprise for Fox, whose president of distribution, Bruce Snyder, observed that “the marketplace has been so weird, it has been hard to calculate” in advance how well movies might do. Before Friday, audience research indicated “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” might do anywhere from the mid-20s to the mid-30s in millions of dollars.

Nearly 57% of the audience for the film was 25 and older, with roughly 56% female, Snyder said, according to theater exit surveys.

The Depression-era boxing drama “Cinderella Man” -- another movie whose star, Russell Crowe, has endured the glare of media attention -- failed to exhibit much stamina in its second round, grossing an estimated $9.5 million, 48% off its relatively flaccid debut, for a 10-day total of $34.5 million.

“The studio believes in this movie still,” a Universal spokesman said, “but we’re obviously disappointed in the week 2 results, and we’re going to regroup and see what strategies we can come up with to continue to support the movie.”

Robert Rodriguez’s kids-fantasy film “Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D” opened at No. 5 with an estimated $12.5 million, Dimension Films reported.

The weekend’s two other new wide releases delivered unremarkable numbers as Paramount’s “The Honeymooners” and Lions Gate’s “High Tension” took in about $5.8 million and $1.75 million, respectively.

“Lords of Dogtown,” a gritty dramatization of the story of the young men who helped popularize skateboarding, took a 67% spill in its second weekend, grossing an estimated $1.8 million and $9.3 million in 10 days. That TriStar film also vividly illustrated the difficulty of accurately projecting box office in advance, because the film had been expected to open in the low 10s to mid- or high teens, based on audience awareness and other tracking indicators, and it took in just $5 million.

The overall slump in moviegoing is in its 16th week, meanwhile, with the estimated total gross of $140 million down 12% from the same period last year. Year-to-date box office of about $3.62 billion remains 7% behind last year, which means admissions are likely down even more when taking ticket price inflation into consideration.

The industry is eagerly waiting to see whether “Batman Returns,” which opens Wednesday, followed by “Herbie: Fully Loaded” on June 22 and “Bewitched” on June 24, will help turn the tide in moviegoing before the June 29 arrival of “War of the Worlds.”

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Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total

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*--* Mr. & Mrs. Smith $51.05 $51.05

Madagascar 17.1 128.3

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith 14.9 332.1

The Longest Yard 13.5 118.1

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 12.5 12.5

Cinderella Man 9.5 34.5

The Honeymooners 5.8 5.8

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 5.7 23.7

Monster- in-Law 2.6 76.5

Crash 1.9 44.3 Source: Nielsen EDI Inc. Los Angeles Times

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