Box Office

by Bridget Byrne

Captain Jack Sparrow was no match for Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs.

Miami Vice, the big-screen update of the pastel-happy '80s tube classic, made the scalawags of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest walk the proverbial plank, booking an estimated $25.2 million from Friday to Sunday to lead movie ticket sales.

Michael Mann's gritty, R-rated redo of his iconic cop series, with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx channeling Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, met expectations, according to Universal. The studio noted Vice performed about the same as Mann's last crime drama, Collateral, which costarred Foxx and Tom Cruse and debuted with $24.7 million in August 2002.

The audience was evenly split between male and female and ethnically mixed, with 62 percent 30 or older, Universal says. Moviegoers reported that foremost they came for the action, with Foxx fans outpolling Farrell fans at the box office. Vice averaged $8,342 per site at 3,021 theaters.

Although Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest dropped down to second place after three spectacular weeks at number one, the high-seas adventure was still clearly afloat. The PG-13 sequel only fell 42 percent, seizing another $20.4 million in loot for a total haul of $358.3 million, the highest gross for a live-action film in Disney history.

With Vice and Pirates hogging the bulk of the box-office booty, there was little left to go around for the other major newcomers, John Tucker Must Die and The Ant Bully.

The former, a teenage romantic revenge comedy starring Sophia Bush, Ashanti and Arielle Kebbel as a trio of dumpees who try to get the new girl in school (Brittany Snow) to break the heart of the resident love-'em-and-leave-'em hunk (Jesse Metcalfe, opened in third place with $14 million. Fox's modestly budgeted PG-13 flick averaged $5,498 at 2,560 locations.

Meantime, The Ant Bully was virtually squashed beneath Monster House. The new 'toon, featuring the insectified voices of Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep, only mustered $8.1 million to debut in fifth place. Warner Bros.' Jeff Goldstein admitted the tally was "disappointing" and suggested The Ant Bully was a victim of the "overcrowded" family-film market, led by Sony's animated hit Monster House, which finished in fourth place with $11.5 million and has grossed $43.8 million.

Warners didn't get any better news from its more adult fare, either, as M. Night Shyamalan's all-wet fantasy Lady in the Water which sank 61 percent from its weak opening, with just $7 million in sixth place. The film's two-week total is a soggy $32 million.

Also dropping 61 percent in its second week was Clerks II. MGM's slacker sequel stirred up $3.9 million for a total of $18.4 million. Out of the top 10 altogether in its second week was Fox's My Super Ex-Girlfriend, which managed just $3.7 million for a total of $16.4 million.

But Fox had other stuff to be cheerful about. Not only did the fashion satire The Devil Wears Prada surpass the $100 million mark this week, but Fox Searchlight's Little Miss Sunshine, which had earned a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival, had an ultra bright debut. The R-rated road trip comedy, starring Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin and Steve Carell, averaged a blinding $50,955 at just seven screens in New York and Los Angeles, for $356,683 from Friday to Sunday. Since opening Wednesday, the film has grossed $484,877; the studio will gradually roll out Little Miss Sunshine throughout August.

Also opening in limited release was Scoop, Woody Allen's latest showcase for muse Scarlett Johansson. At 538 sites, Focus' PG-rated comic caper, which also stars Hugh Jackman, scooped $5,582 for $3 million.

While overall business dropped 20 percent from last weekend, it was still another up weekend compared to this time last year. The top 12 films combined for an estimated $114.8 million, a gain of 3 percent.

Here's a rundown of the weekend's top-grossing films as compiled by Exhibitor Relations from studio estimates; final figures are due Monday:

1. Miami Vice, $25.2 million
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $20.4 million
3. John Tucker Must Die, $14 million
4. Monster House, $11.5 million
5. The Ant Bully, $8.1 million
6. Lady in the Water, $7.01 million
7. You, Me and Dupree, $7 million
8. Little Man, $5.1 million
9. The Devil Wears Prada, $4.7 million
10. Clerks II, $3.9 million