When a Stranger Calls tops US box office

Wednesday, February 8, 2006: (Los Angeles):

When a Stranger Calls, a remake of the scary movie about a terrorized baby sitter, debuted at No. 1 with $22 million over the typically sluggish Super Bowl weekend.

Distributor Sony, whose Screen Gems banner released When a Stranger Calls, said it was the best Super Bowl debut ever, beating the $19 million haul the studio's horror flick Boogeyman took in over the same weekend last year.

20th Century Fox's Big Momma's House 2 fell to second place with $13.35 million, lifting its 10-day total to $45.4 million, according to studio estimates.

The weekend's other new wide release, Focus Features' romantic comedy Something New, opened at No. 7 with $5 million.

With fans staying home on Sunday for the big game, theaters were quiet, though key Academy Awards contenders including Focus Features' best-picture front-runner Brokeback Mountain benefited from last week's nominations.

"The Super Bowl is one of those television events like the Academy Awards that really dominates and monopolizes the audience," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The top 12 movies took in $81.7 million, down 7 per cent from Super Bowl weekend last year.

On the heels of its leading eight nominations, the cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain expanded to its widest release yet in 2,089 theaters and came in fourth with $5.7 million. (AP)

http://www.ndtvmovies.com/newstory.asp?section=Movies&id=4367

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