Actress Jodelle Ferland is shown in a scene from her new film 'Silent Hill'. Canada-born Ferland portrays Dark Alessa, a child who becomes lost in a town that exists in different time dimensions and is inhabited by ghosts. 'Silent Hill' has topped the box office revenues this weekend. - CONTRIBUTED
LOS ANGELES (AP):
A REAL scary movie bumped off the spoof variety at the box office.
Sony's fright flick Silent Hill, set in an eerie ghost town, debuted with US$20.2 million, taking over the top spot from the Weinstein Co. comedy Scary Movie 4, which slipped to number two with US$17 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates yesterday.
The White House assassination tale The Sentinel, a 20th Century Fox thriller starring Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland and Eva Longoria, opened in third place with US$14.65 million.
The weekend's other new major debut, Universal's George W. Bush-American Idol parody American Dreamz, featuring Dennis Quaid and Hugh Grant, debuted a weak number eight with US$3.7 million.
After two weekends in limited release, Jennifer Aniston's comic drama Friends With Money expanded nationwide and came in at number 10 with US$3.55 million. Aniston plays a down-on-her-luck housecleaner with three well-to-do pals (Frances McDormand, Catherine Keener and Joan Cusack).
Lifted by box-office leaders that included 20th Century Fox's animated hit Ice Age: The Meltdown at number four with US$12.8 million, Hollywood revenues rose for the fifth-straight weekend.
The top-12 movies took in US$100.4 million, up 22 per cent from the same weekend last year, when The Interpreter debuted at number one with US$22.8 million.
After a prolonged dry spell in 2005, when movie attendance fell eight per cent, Hollywood is on solid footing this year heading into a potentially big summer. A surge over the past month has attendance running four per cent ahead of last year's, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
"This is exactly where the industry wants to be as we approach the biggest moviegoing season of the year," Dergarabedian said. "It's night and day from where we were last year."
The industry has a stronger early-summer line-up this time compared to last year, when Hollywood got off to a slow start with Kingdom of Heaven, Kicking and Screaming and Monster-in-law.
Coming over the first three weekends this May are Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible III, Tom Hanks and Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code, the animated comedy Over the Hedge and Poseidon, a remake of The Poseidon Adventure.
Sony scored its fourth number one opening of the year with Silent Hill, starring Radha Mitchell as a mom hunting for her ailing daughter in a mysterious town. Along with Silent Hill, two of Sony's other top debuts were horror movies that were not shown to critics beforehand, part of a growing trend where studios skip critic screenings when they expect bad reviews.
Two-thirds of the audience for Silent Hill was under 25, an age group less likely to pay attention to reviews, and the horror genre tends to pull in fans over opening weekend no matter what the critics say.
Estimated ticket sales
1. Silent Hill, US$20.2 million
2. Scary Movie 4, US$17 million
3. The Sentinel, US$14.65 million
4. Ice Age: The Meltdown, US$12.8 million
5. The Wild, US$8.05 million
6. The Benchwarmers, US$7.3 million (euro5.93 million).
7. Take the Lead, US$4.25 million
8 (tie). American Dreamz, US$3.7 million
8 (tie). Inside Man, US$3.7 million
10. Friends With Money, US$3.55.
