'Scooby-Doo' scares up $56.4 million in debut

LOS ANGELES -- "Scooby-Doo," where are you? Well on top of the weekend box office.

The big-screen update of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, starring a computer-animated Great Dane, took in $56.4 million to debut as the No. 1 film, according to industry estimates Sunday.

"In these trying times, what could be more escapist than 'Scooby-Doo,' which is so fun and lighthearted?" said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Matt Damon's "The Bourne Identity," a spy thriller about a deadly amnesiac agent, opened in second place with $27.5 million.

"Windtalkers," starring Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach in a drama about Navajo Indian codetalkers in World War II, premiered a weak third with $14.5 million.

The espionage tale of Damon's buddy Ben Affleck, "The Sum of All Fears," slipped to fourth place after two weekends as the top film, taking in $13.5 million and pushing its 17-day total to $84.5 million.

"Scooby-Doo" was one of Hollywood's few successes in adapting a TV cartoon to the big screen. "The Flintstones" did well, but the prequel "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" was a commercial dud.

Other recent cartoon adaptations flopped, including "Josie and the Pussycats" and "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle."

"Scooby-Doo is a character that obviously reaches a much wider audience than most cartoons," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which released "Scooby-Doo." "The audience was Scooby fans from 8 to 80. We had kids, we had adults. We had everybody."

Playing in 3,447 theaters, "Scooby-Doo" averaged an impressive $16,368 a cinema. "The Bourne Identity" averaged a healthy $10,425 in 2,638 theaters, and "Windtalkers" did a so-so $5,003 in 2,898 locations.

The Bourne split

Adapted from Robert Ludlum's best seller, "The Bourne Identity" established Damon as a legitimate action leading man. The actor has tended toward straight drama or ensemble films.

Action films usually have stronger male appeal, but distributor Universal said the audience for "Bourne Identity" was evenly split between men and women.

Many were drawn to the film "because of the story. It's a well-read book," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal.

Rocco said the appeal for women was more straightforward: "I think it's Matt Damon."

"Windtalkers" was the latest commercial misfire for MGM, whose recent flops include "Hart's War" and "Rollerball."

"Did they choose to take their kids to 'Scooby-Doo' and will get to 'Windtalkers' later? From the people who did come to 'Windtalkers,' we got good word of mouth, so that's our hope," said MGM head of distribution Robert Levin.