‘The Interpreter’ speaks to women

The absence of any strong new draw for the youth market made plenty of room at the top of the nation’s box office for Sydney Pollack’s “The Interpreter,” and females dominated the audience for the three newest movies, as they have for the past two weekends.

The film, which stars Nicole Kidman as an interpreter who overhears a conversation about an assassination plot at the U.N. and Sean Penn as the Secret Service agent assigned to investigate and protect her, took in an estimated $22.8 million, Universal Pictures said Sunday. It attracted an audience that was 58% female as well as 56% ages 35 and older.

The youth-oriented romantic comedy “A Lot Like Love,” the only other new movie in the top 10, opened in fourth place with an estimated $7.7 million. The audience courting the Ashton Kutcher-Amanda Peet film was roughly 70% female, Disney said, and 80% was 35 or younger. Romantic comedies such as this one from British director Nigel Cole seem to be having a tough time attracting large numbers of moviegoers -- even relatively well-reviewed ones like the Farrelly Brothers’ “Fever Pitch” with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon.

“Guess Who,” which stars Kutcher and Bernie Mac, remains the strongest recent live-action comedy in the top 10, with a total of $62.4 million.

Expanding from seven theaters to more than 2,500, Stephen Chow’s well-reviewed spoof “Kung Fu Hustle” muscled into the No. 5 spot. Interestingly, the “Kung Fu” crowd was 2-to-1 female and mostly between the ages of 25 and 40, Sony Pictures Classics said, based on exit surveys in theaters in Atlanta; Tempe, Ariz.; Grapevine, Texas; Renten, Wash.; and Green Bay, Wis. Last weekend’s big movie, “The Amityville Horror,” slipped to second place with an estimated $14.2 million, MGM said. Business for the latest version of a 30-year-old story, which also attracted young females in large numbers in its opening weekend, was down about 40% -- good for a wide-release genre movie. Its 10-day total is about $43.8 million.

“Sahara,” an action-adventure that also skewed more female than male when it opened, moved down a notch to third place in its third weekend with an estimated $9 million, and $48.9 million to date, Paramount said.

Although business overall remains in a slump compared with the same period last year, the weekend was up about 12% over last week, box-office tracking firm Nielsen EDI said. Universal said the numbers for “The Interpreter” represented the best opening for a Working Title movie. The British production company’s previous best U.S. debut was for “Notting Hill” ($21.8 million in 1999).

“The Interpreter” was also Penn’s best opening, beating “The Game” from 1997 ($14.3 million), Nielsen EDI said. If estimates hold up when more reliable figures come in today, it will also be the best for Kidman, beating the $21.7 million for “Eyes Wide Shut” in the summer of 1999.

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Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total The Interpreter $22.8 $22.8 The Amityville Horror 14.2 43.8 Sahara 9.0 48.9 A Lot Like Love 7.7 7.7 Kung Fu Hustle 7.3 8.0 Fever Pitch 5.5 31.5 Sin City 3.7 67.3 Guess Who 3.5 62.4 Robots 3.3 120.2 King’s Ransom 2.4 2.4

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Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.