"Pink Panther" Pounces

In a weekend where most of the country was blanketed in white, the box office was in the pink.

The remake of the The Pink Panther, featuring Steve Martin filling in for the late Peter Sellers, stumbled in with $21.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

While hardly a blockbuster, Sony declared itself very happy with the arrival of Panther, citing the strong competition the PG film faced with "four new films entering the marketplace, a paralyzing blizzard on the East Coast and the highly anticipated kickoff of the Winter Olympics."

Panther, which costars Kevin Kline and Beyonce Knowles, had broad appeal, per Sony's number crunchers: 51 percent of the audience was made up of families (27 percent children under 12 and 24 percent parents), while the nonfamily audience skewed female (56 percent to 44 percent for males), with the audience equally split between those over and under 25 years old.

The three other new films in the multiplex rotation--Final Destination 3, Curious George and Firewall--met with varying degrees of success.

New Line's horror sequel Final Destination 3, in which death stalks rollercoaster riders, finished a close second with $20.1 million. It had also a higher per-screen average than Panther, with $6,988 at 2,880 sites to the comedy's $6,241 at 3,477 sites.

Universal's 2-D, hand-drawn monkey 'toon swung in to third place with an estimated $15.3 million.

The studio claimed the take was above industry expectations and that this "safe film for the family" had scored well because it was very true to its source material--the sweet tales about the inquisitive monkey by Margret and H.A. Rey. The G-rated feature, with a voice cast that includes Will Ferrell (as the Man in the Yellow Hat) Drew Barrymore, Dick Van Dyke, Joan Plowright and Eugene Levy, averaged $5,963 at 2,566 sites.

Finally, the Harrison Ford-fronted Firewall broke in with $13.8 million.

Warner Bros. acknowledged that the whiteout on the East Coast clearly impacted business, but still felt it was "a strong opening" for the family-in-peril thriller, which averaged $4,870 at 2,840 sites.

Meanwhile, Brokeback Mountain was the only Best Picture Oscar contender still in the top 10. The Focus release was down to eighth place in its 10th week, with $4.1 million, to bring its tally to $66.6 million.

Meanwhile, Sony reported that Underworld: Evolution picked up another $2.5 million in the 10th slot and has now grossed $57.2 million in four weeks, more than the $51.4 million earned domestically by the original Underworld

In limited release, Paramount Classic's Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Jonathan Demme's documentary about the veteran musician's making and performing songs from his Prairie Wind album, earned a golden $14,326 at just four sites for $57,303.

Despite the bad weather and the debut of the Winter Olympics, the top 12 movies combined for $106.7 million, up a solid 31 percent from last weekend (which was hampered by the Super Bowl) and 3 percent up over this time last year, when Sony's Hitch reigned.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films, based on preliminary figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations; final tallies are due Monday:

1. The Pink Panther, $21.7 million
2. Final Destination 3, $20.1 million
3. Curious George, $15.3 million
4. Firewall, $13.8 million
5. When a Stranger Calls, $10 million
6. Big Momma's House 2, $6.8 million
7. Nanny McPhee, $5.2 million
8. Brokeback Mountain, $4.1 million
9. Hoodwinked, $2.502 million
10. Underworld: Evolution, $2.5 million