The gloomiest week in New Line Cinema's 40-year history ended with a clunk as the Will Ferrell basketball comedy "Semi-Pro" opened to an estimated $15.3 million, below box-office expectations for about $10 million more.
In a hollow victory, "Semi-Pro," produced for $57 million, ranked No. 1 for the weekend, followed by Sony Pictures' holdover thriller "Vantage Point," which took in $13 million, and Paramount Pictures' family fantasy "The Spiderwick Chronicles" at $8.8 million.
Executives at New Line -- which learned late last week that the studio would be merged into corporate sibling Warner Bros. by parent Time Warner Inc. as a cost-saving move -- declined to comment Sunday on the box-office results.
Best known for the blockbuster "The Lord of the Rings" series, New Line will continue as a production label but is expected to make fewer, and cheaper, movies. Hundreds of jobs probably will be eliminated in the transition.
Despite extensive marketing by New Line and Ferrell himself, "Semi-Pro" opened well below the star's other recent sports comedies. "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" started at $47 million and "Blades of Glory" opened with $33 million.
Those two were rated PG-13, while the raunchy "Semi-Pro" had a restrictive R rating that kept young moviegoers away. But even "Old School," one of Ferrell's few other R-rated comedies, opened better, launching to $17.5 million in 2003.
Industrywide results were down from the same weekend in 2007 for the third straight time. A year ago, total receipts were 21% higher as the comedy "Wild Hogs" led the way with almost $40 million.
Even so, box-office revenue is up about 8% year-to-date, according to data tracker Media by Numbers, thanks to a strong January.
Two other new movies matched industry expectations.
"The Other Boleyn Girl," a period romance starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana, took in $8.3 million to rank No. 4 for the weekend, according to Sony's estimate. The movie, made for $35 million, was a co-production with Relativity Media and Universal Pictures' Focus Features division.
"Boleyn Girl" averaged a solid $7,000 per theater at a moderately wide 1,200 locations, an indication that it could hang tough for several weeks in the marketplace, said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of domestic distribution.
The movie got mixed reviews but a decent reception from audience members surveyed: 80% rated it "excellent" or "very good," Bruer said.
