'Stranger' Dials No. 1 At Super Bowl Box Office

The new horror remake "When a Stranger Calls" connected with young thrill-seekers at the weekend box office in North America, but moviegoing generally took a back seat to Sunday's Super Bowl showdown.

Meanwhile, last week's Oscar nominations propelled several contenders up the charts, with front-runner "Brokeback Mountain" jumping two places to No. 4, a new high.

"When a Stranger Calls," a remake of a 1979 B-movie about a teenage baby-sitter terrorized by menacing phone calls, sold a better-than-expected $22 million worth of tickets for the three-day, Friday-to-Sunday period, according to distributor Screen Gems.

"Stranger" cost just $15 million to make, and its audience was primarily women (55 percent) and aged under 21 (58 percent), a demographic not known for watching football games. The studio had hoped for an opening in the mid-teens.

"It's just one of those edge-of-your-seat-type stories that totally captures people's imaginations," said Rory Bruer, president of domestic theatrical distribution at Screen Gems' parent, Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Screen Gems did not bother trying to capture critics' imaginations, opting not to screen the picture before it opened. Studios usually adopt this strategy when they know the reviews will be bad, or if it's clear that the target audience will turn out regardless.

NEW FILM FUMBLES

The film marks the second No. 1 in three weeks for Screen Gems, the Sony Corp .-owned studio charged with making low-budget genre movies. Its previous chart-topper, "Underworld: Evolution," fell three places to No. 6 with $5.1 million, and has earned $52.8 million to date.

Screen Gems also ruled the Super Bowl weekend last year with "Boogeyman," which opened to $19 million, and the year before with "You Got Served" ($16 million).

One other film tried to lure non-football fans, but with less success. "Something New," a romantic comedy about a black woman (Sanna Lathan) and a white man (Simon Baker), opened at No. 7 with $5.0 million, about $1 million short of the expectations of its General Electric Co.-owned distributor, Focus Features.

Last weekend's champion, the Martin Lawrence comedy sequel "Big Momma's House 2" slipped to No. 2 with $13.4 million. The 10-day haul for the picture stands at $45.4 million. It was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.

The Emma Thompson comedy "Nanny McPhee" slipped one place to No. 3 with $9.9 million, for a 10-day tally of $26.6 million. It was released by GE's Universal Pictures.

COWBOYS, CASH SCORE

Focus Features' "Brokeback Mountain," which picked up eight nominations including best picture when Oscar contenders were announced on Tuesday, tallied $5.7 million in its ninth weekend. Focus took advantage of the tidings to boost the gay-cowboy romance's theater count to 2,089 theaters from 1,654 theaters. Its sales total rose to $59.8 million.

Even though it failed to secure a best-picture Oscar nomination, the Johnny Cash movie "Walk the Line" jumped three places to No. 9 with $3.4 million, thanks to nods for its stars Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. After 12 weeks, the Fox release has earned $110 million.

As for the other best-picture nominees still playing in theaters, "Capote," "Munich," and "Good Night, and Good Luck," none vaulted into the top 10, but they all enjoyed healthy bumps after increasing their theater counts.

Sony's "Capote," which stars Oscar nominee Philip Seymour Hoffman as novelist Truman Capote, grossed $2.5 million, after boosting its theater count by 914 to 1,239. Its total rose to $18.2 million after 19 weeks.

Steven Spielberg's terrorist thriller "Munich," somewhat of a box office disappointment for Universal Pictures, earned $1.9 million, taking its haul to $43.1 million after seven weeks.

"Good Night, and Good Luck," directed by triple-nominee George Clooney, tallied $1.5 million, exceeding its combined sales from the previous six weekends. Its total rose to $26.7 million. The film was released by Warner Independent Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.