McConaughey, Hudson Find $22M in 'Gold'

LOS ANGELES — "Fool's Gold" found real treasure as the romantic adventure starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson led the weekend box office with a $22 million debut.

Martin Lawrence's family reunion comedy "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" opened at No. 2 with $17.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Disney's "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert," the 3-D concert film that was the previous weekend's top movie, fell to third place with $10.5 million, a sharp drop from its $31.1 million opening. The movie has grossed $53.4 million after 10 days.

Released by Warner Bros., "Fool's Gold" came in a bit under the $23.8 million opening of McConaughey and Hudson's hit romance "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," which debuted over the same pre-Valentine's Day weekend in 2003.

With Valentine's Day on Thursday, the studio is counting on "Fool's Gold" to hold up well, said Jeff Goldstein, Warner vice president of distribution.

Critics hated "Fool's Gold" but audiences were eager to catch McConaughey and Hudson, who play a divorced couple reunited in a quest for 18th-century treasure lost at sea.

"A great marketing campaign, two appealing stars, and reviews be damned," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "Heading into Valentine's week, it's sort of a natural."

Universal's "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" features Lawrence as a talk show host who reluctantly heads back to the family homestead for his parents' 50th anniversary.

This weekend's other new wide release, Picturehouse's "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights _ Hollywood to the Heartland," tanked with just $507,000. Playing in 962 theaters, the documentary of Vaughn and other comics' standup tour averaged just $527 a cinema, compared to $7,043 in 3,125 locations for "Fool's Gold" and $7,175 in 2,387 theaters for "Roscoe Jenkins."

In narrower release, Paris Hilton's comedy "The Hottie and the Nottie" did even worse, bombing with around $25,000 in 111 theaters for an average of about $225, according to an estimate from Media By Numbers. Distributed by Regent Releasing, the movie stars Hilton as a bombshell who refuses to date until her ugly best friend finds love.

Focus Features' action comedy "In Bruges," with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as hit men laying low in Belgium, opened solidly in limited release, pulling in $471,200 in 28 theaters to average $16,829.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Fool's Gold," $22 million.

2. "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins," $17.1 million.

3. "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert," $10.5 million.

4. "The Eye," $6.6 million.

5. "Juno," $5.73 million.

6. "27 Dresses," $5.7 million.

7. "The Bucket List," $5.3 million.

8. "Rambo," $4.1 million.

9. "Meet the Spartans," $4.075 million.

10. "There Will Be Blood," $4.073 million.

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On the Net:

http://www.mediabynumbers.com

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Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.

Comments

[FITNESSSF]

04:56 PM on 02/11/2008

Ah...a night in Paris....

http://www.cosgroveandjeff.blogspot.com/

[wayoutleft]

01:05 PM on 02/11/2008

i think of the tape as a romantic comedy where people jump each other and screw. some critics say it's a lot like "no country for old men" except there are people screwing in it. either way, THATN represents the growth of paris as an artist. in THATN she gets a chance to empathize. i'm sure she now realizes that to be filmed in naked in graphic sexual positions can result in typecasting. but she has successfully broken out of that typical childstar role into a multifaceted adult role as a high school student.

[wayoutleft]

11:08 AM on 02/11/2008

paris hilton's new film "the hottie and the nottie" deeply illuminates the tragedy of physical imperfection from a sensitive and understanding perspective. paris reaches deeply into her own experience with persecution to find compassion with in her soul. i would compare it with "no country for old men" and "3:10 to yuma", except no old white guys get shot. rather it shows paris' incomparably generous spirit in befriending the less fortunate- which is everyone.
what unfortunately happened to THATN (as "the hottie and the nottie" is referred to among cineastes and straight film commentators alike) is that it opened during britney spears speed week and was- publicitywise- swept away like a supermodel in a tsunami. the same thing happened to the clooneyasmic "oceans 11" opening when they dragged paris off to jail and made her wear odd fabrics. had THATN had a clear publicity field it would have gained the acclaim it deserves.

[rektruax]

07:04 PM on 02/11/2008

That is some funny shit wayout...

[wayoutleft]

04:16 AM on 02/12/2008

i think paris' true message is that there is hope for all of us who are poorer and uglier than her. she is such an inspiration. in "house of wax", often compared to "the house that dripped blood" for its inexplicable casting of undersized english people, she is not allowed her natural range of compassion for brunettes, small european fops, drunk elephants, britney, people with moles, and what have you. therefore, she gets turned into an immobile exhibit- just like she was in county jail, where she learned the hard way never to combine primary colors. she also learned never to be a tall girl in an english movie- although the hideous possibility of intimate contact with peter sellers has somewhat receded due to his death, she'll be bitten by dracula and english taxes. american film is much more suited to paris' commanding screen presence. in an american romantic comedy it takes about 90 minutes for whatever verminous fantasizing bloodsucker to work his way up the willowy heroine's leg. paris is now able to bring that process under control.

[EdRoberts]

11:07 AM on 02/11/2008

The only role I found Paris believable in was in her sex tape...and in that, I noticed that even she found it hard to swallow.

[wayoutleft]

11:18 AM on 02/11/2008

the sex tape was a brave and refreshing first effort- an innovative but neccessary departure from the usual first efforts of teen stars- community theater having become the jungle of hype and exploitation that it is.

[protagonia]

12:08 PM on 02/11/2008

It was a Cock-umenatry, in the spirit of BEST IN SHOW, or A MIGHTY WIND.