Box office

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

Goofy, baby-desperate women outslugged dopey, pot-smoking men in theaters this weekend as Baby Mama took the top spot at the box office over Harold & Kumar Escapefrom Guantanamo Bay.
Mama took in $18.3 million, according to Nielsen EDI, about $4 million more than projected.

The debut was plenty to defeat Harold, which did $14.6 million, almost $2 million more than most analysts predicted.

The weekend showdown was a true battle of the sexes: More than two-thirds of Mama's audience was female, while Harold lured the same percentage of male moviegoers.

"Sorry, guys, but this was a ladies' weekend," says Nikki Rocco, distribution chief for Universal Pictures, which released Mama and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the female-driven comedy that was fourth with $11 million in its second week. Mama star Tina Fey "is a real talent. She's showing she can do TV and the movies really well."

Not that anyone was complaining at Warner Bros., which released the R-rated Harold, a sequel to the 2004 film, which did $18.4 million and became a home video hit with young men.

"Given all the female comedies out there, we couldn't be happier," says Warner Bros.' Dan Fellman. "We know most of the people who came were 18 to 35, but we didn't check how many were on parole."

The Jackie Chan and Jet Li adventure Forbidden Kingdom was third with $11.2 million, while Jodie Foster's Nim's Island was No. 5 with $4.3 million.

The only other big newcomer, the Ewan McGregor-Hugh Jackman thriller Deception, was a flop with $2.3 million, good for 10th place.

Ticket sales were up 34% over the same weekend last year.