Warner Bros. got a jump on Valentine's Day with the Matthew McConaughey-Kate Hudson adventure romance "Fool's Gold," the weekend's box-office leader with an estimated $22 million in ticket sales.
Heavy marketing and appealing stars helped the movie, produced for about $65 million, open toward the upper end of expectations despite harsh reviews from critics.
"Love is in the air and it helped us hit box-office gold," said Jeff Goldstein, the studio's executive vice president of distribution. "This was the date movie for people in the mood for light entertainment."
The Martin Lawrence comedy "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins," from Universal Pictures, opened at No. 2 with an estimated $17.1 million, matching pre-release expectations.
Walt Disney Co.'s 3-D movie "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" ranked third in its second weekend, taking in $10.5 million with a steep 66% drop.
Overall revenue for the weekend was down about 1% from the same period in 2007, according to data tracker Media by Numbers, as box-office results cooled off a bit after this year's hot start.
"Fool's Gold," which reunited its sexy, sunbaked stars for the first time since 2003's "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," and "Roscoe Jenkins" both averaged about $7,000 per theater.
But the Warner Bros. movie benefited from a wider release, with an additional 700-plus theaters. The audience for "Fool's Gold" was 62% female, as expected, and 57% was older than 25.
In CinemaScore surveys, patrons rated the movie a moderate "B-minus," but Goldstein said the calendar set the picture up for a solid run. With Valentine's Day falling on Thursday, the movie will compete for customers on three "date nights" this week and get a boost from the President's Day holiday weekend, he said.
"Roscoe Jenkins," produced for about $35 million, drew crowds that were fairly balanced between males and females, young and old, said Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of domestic distribution.
The audience was 32% non-African American, which Rocco took as an indication the movie was "playing beyond its core audience."
She said she was encouraged that business for "Roscoe Jenkins" jumped 51% from Friday to Saturday, versus 22% for "Fool's Gold," and that CinemaScore respondents graded it an "A-minus."
"Hannah Montana," produced for about $7 million, fell sharply after its $31.1-million opening weekend, a Super Bowl record. Still, it continued to benefit from the higher ticket prices exhibitors can charge for 3-D movies, in some cases $15 to $20.
