'Eight Below' mushes to No. 1 debut with $25 million

LOS ANGELES -- "Eight Below," a tale of survival among abandoned sled dogs, was the leader of the box-office pack with a $25 million opening over the four-day holiday weekend.

The romance spoof "Date Movie," from 20th Century Fox, debuted in second place with $22.3 million, according to studio estimates Monday.

"If you will, we won the dog race," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which released "Eight Below."

The new movies bumped off Sony's "The Pink Panther," the previous weekend's No. 1 film, which slipped to third place with $21 million, raising its 11-day total to $46.7 million.

The weekend's other new wide release, Sony's urban drama "Freedomland" starring Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore, opened a weak No. 7 with $7 million.

In limited release, the Russian fantasy thriller "Night Watch," a huge hit in its native country, opened strongly with $110,171 in three theaters, averaging a whopping $36,724 a cinema. By comparison, "Eight Below" played in 3,066 theaters and averaged $8,164, while "Date Movie" averaged $7,709 in 2,896 cinemas.

Distributor Fox Searchlight plans to expand "Night Watch" to about 150 theaters by March 3.

Overall, Hollywood had a healthy weekend, with the top 12 movies taking in $135.9 million, down only a fraction from a strong President's Day weekend last year.

Like the previous weekend, when "The Pink Panther" drew a strong family crowd while New Line's fright flick "Final Destination 3" grabbed horror fans, the two top movies scored well with different target audiences.

Parents and their children accounted for about two-thirds of movie-goers catching "Eight Below," while four-fifths of the audience for "Date Movie" was under 25.

"Eight Below" stars Paul Walker as a guide in Antarctica forced by a killer storm to leave his sled-dog team behind in the frozen wasteland, where the animals must band together to survive the winter.

"Date Movie" features Alyson Hannigan and Adam Campbell in a "Scary Movie"-type parody of such romantic comedies as "Hitch," "Meet the Fockers" and "The Wedding Planner."

Focus Features' "Brokeback Mountain," the favorite to win the best-picture Academy Award, continued to benefit from its Oscar buzz, taking in $3.8 million to lift its total to $72 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released today.

1. "Eight Below," $25 million.

2. "Date Movie," $22.3 million.

3. "The Pink Panther," $21 million.

4. "Curious George," $15.3 million.

5. "Final Destination 3," $12.5 million.

6. "Firewall," $10.3 million.

7. "Freedomland," $7 million.

8. "Big Momma's House 2," $5.85 million.

9. "When a Stranger Calls," $5.8 million.

10. "Nanny McPhee," $5.1 million.

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Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal; DreamWorks is a unit of DreamWorks SKG Inc.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount and Paramount Classics are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line and Warner Independent are units of Time Warner Inc.; Lions Gate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.