'Nutty Professor II' is weekend box office heavyweight

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Eddie Murphy scored the best opening of his career Sunday as "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps" gobbled up weekend ticket sales of $42.7 million at the North American box office, according to studio estimates issued Sunday.

Last weekend's No. 1, the Harrison Ford-Michelle Pfeiffer thriller "What Lies Beneath" (DreamWorks) fell to No. 2 with $22.0 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, while the superhero ensemble "X-Men" (Fox) slipped to No. 3 with $11.5 million.

The top 10 contained one other new release, "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" (Destination Films) based on the children's books and TV/video series, which opened at No. 9 with $4.2 million.

Released by Universal Pictures in 3,243 theaters across the United States and Canada, "Nutty II" stars Murphy as the mild- mannered title character, Sherman Klump; his horny alter ego, Buddy Love; and four members of the Klump family. Pop singer Janet Jackson plays morbidly obese Sherman's svelte girlfriend.

The plot revolves around Sherman's efforts to drain Buddy from his DNA, but most of the action focuses on the rowdy Klump family and includes digressions into hamster rape and a black dancing baby. Critics generally slammed the PG-13 movie.

The film's 1996 precursor, "The Nutty Professor" opened at No. 1 in 1996 with $25.4 million from 2,115 theaters, and ended up with $128.8 million. Universal said "Nutty II" becomes Murphy's best opening, surpassing "Dr. Dolittle," which opened to $29 million in June 1998.

The update marks the first No. 1 for Universal since the submarine thriller "U-571" ruled the box office for two weeks in April. The studio's other big summer film, "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle," tanked last month. Universal is owned by Seagram Co. Ltd., which is merging with France's Vivendi SA.

Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said "Nutty II" skewed slightly to young females, and exit polling indicated the top two reasons for seeing the movie were the comedy and Murphy. "Women love him," Rocco said.

Despite the "Nutty II" bow, overall ticket sales ended their four week winning streak. Tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. reported the top 12 films grossed $117.6 million, down 7.6 percent from last weekend and down 15.5 percent from the year- ago weekend, when the Julia Roberts-Richard Gere romance "Runaway Bride" opened at No. 1 with $35 million.

New releases next weekend include "Hollow Man," an invisible man thriller starring Kevin Bacon; "Space Cowboys," an astronaut saga produced/directed by and starring Clint Eastwood; and "Coyote Ugly," a "Cocktail"-like female ensemble based in a wild New York bar.

Privately held DreamWorks' "What Lies Beneath" has racked up $68.5 million after 10 days, losing just 26 percent of its opening audience. Fox's "X-Men" has $121.8 million after 17 days. Its three day sum fell 51 percent. Fox is a unit of Rupert Murdoch's Fox Entertainment Group Inc..

Rounding out the top five were "Scary Movie" (Dimension Films), with $8.1 million in its fourth weekend, taking its 24- day total to $131.9 million; and "The Perfect Storm" (Warner Bros.) with $7.0 million in its fifth weekend and a 31-day total of $157.6 million. Dimension is a division of Walt Disney Co's Miramax Films unit. Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

In the milestone department, the eighth-ranked "The Patriot" (Columbia) became the ninth release of 2000 to pass the century mark. With a weekend tally of $4.6 million, the Mel Gibson epic has grossed $101 million after 33 days of release. Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp.

Among last weekend's other new releases, "Pokemon The Movie 2000" (WB) fell three places to No. 6 with $6.3 million, a massive 68 percent slide in sales. But WB distribution president Dan Fellman predicted it would hold up during the week as mothers take their young children to see the animated adventure. The movie has $33.1 million to date, and should end up with about $50 million -- "right on the money," Fellman added.

The teen romance "Loser" (Columbia) fell three places to No. 11 in its second weekend with $2.7 million, a 55 percent drop. It has grossed $12 million to date.

"Thomas and the Magic Railroad," which stars Peter Fonda and Mara Wilson in a live action/animated story, has earned $6.6 million since opening in 2,106 theaters on Wednesday. Its $4.2 million three-day weekend tally came in at the lower end of expectations set at $4 million-$6 million, said Barry London, distribution president at privately held Destination Films.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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