It’s a ‘Guy’ thing for weekend’s No. 1 film

Female moviegoers propelled “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” to No. 1 this weekend, with the romantic comedy beating the American chop-socky action sequel “Shanghai Knights.” “Guy,” which stars Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey as two upwardly mobile New Yorkers who fall in love, grossed an impressive $26.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It marked the biggest February opening since “The Wedding Singer” in 1998, according to box office tracker Nielsen EDI Inc.

“Knights,” a sequel to “Shanghai Noon,” again starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, grossed an impressive $19.7 million at No. 2, considering that the original opened with $15.6 million on the Friday-to-Sunday portion of the four-day Memorial Day weekend in 2000.

“How to Lose” is one in a string of romantic comedies in the past few months that performed well at the box office, beginning with the Jennifer Lopez/Ralph Fiennes Cinderella story “Maid in Manhattan,” which opened in December to $18.7 million and has grossed $92.4 million. The Sandra Bullock/Hugh Grant romp “Two Weeks Notice,” which also opened in December (with $14.3 million), has racked up $91.5 million.

Even the low-budget “Just Married,” with Brittany Murphy and Ashton Kutcher, performed well during the early January doldrums; it opened to $17.5 million and has grossed $50.6 million.

The best-performing romantic comedy last year was Reese Witherspoon’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” which opened with $35.6 million in September and went on to take in $127.1 million.

These films rely heavily on females, and women made up more than two-thirds of “How to Lose a Guy’s” audience. Paramount has marketed the $30-million-budget film aggressively, and motion-picture group COO Robert Friedman said the studio timed the release in hopes of sustaining solid business through the Valentine’s Day weekend and beyond. “We knew this could become a date movie, and we know that girls get to pick -- especially this week,” he said.

Nielsen EDI President Dan Marks said next weekend’s numbers will be a good indicator of the film’s longevity. “It’s a great start,” he said, but “you can’t tell if the picture is going to have legs from the first weekend.”

Coming in behind “How to Lose a Guy” and “Shanghai Knights” was the sassy musical “Chicago.” Miramax increased the movie’s theater count from 623 to 1,841 this weekend, grossing an estimated $10.4 million. The musical’s probable Oscar nominations Tuesday will likely give it another boost.

Over the last two weeks, Miramax has engaged in some unorthodox practices by piggybacking “Chicago” with the wide release of “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” to which those grosses were credited.

Miramax Chief Operating Officer Rick Sands said playing “Chicago” in a double feature gave “Confessions” about a 20% lift last weekend.

Distribution executives at competing studios, however, calculated somewhat higher percentage bumps. Because “Chicago” actors and filmmakers took pay cuts in exchange for a percentage of eventual receipts, rather than paying its “Chicago” actors and filmmakers based on the percentage increase, Miramax said it is going to base its payouts on the total receipts for both films for the weekends involved.

In other box office news, Focus Features’ modestly budgeted romantic comedy “Deliver Us From Eva” opened at No. 6 with an estimated $7 million, behind returnees “The Recruit” and “Final Destination 2” at Nos. 4 and 5 respectively. “Eva,” which stars LL Cool J and Gabrielle Union, was in 1,139 theaters, averaging a healthy $6,215.

DreamWorks’ African American action flick, “Biker Boyz,” fell a disappointing 61% in its second weekend, coming in at No. 8 with an estimated $4 million. Universal’s “The Guru” also had a weak second weekend, grossing $354,000 on 62 screens -- a 42% drop.

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Times staff writer Anita M. Busch contributed to this story.