September 11 film 'United 93' No 2 at box office

LOS ANGELES, May 1 (Reuters) ''United 93,'' the first Hollywood movie dealing with the events of September 11, landed at No 2 at the weekend box office in North America with respectable ticket sales of 11.6 million dollars.

The new Robin Williams comedy ''RV'' drove off with the top prize, selling about 16.4 million dollars worth of tickets for the three days beginning Friday, while the teen gymnast drama ''Stick It'' opened at No 3 with 11.3 million dollars, according to studio estimates issued yesterday.

''United 93'' is a dramatisation of the events surrounding the flight that crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back against the hijackers.

Budgeted at just 15 million dollars, and filmed with a cast of relative unknowns away from the US media spotlight in Britain, the Universal Pictures release was directed by English filmmaker Paul Greengrass, who shot the 2004 Matt Damon hit ''The Bourne Supremacy.'' It premiered last Tuesday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and has drawn rave reviews from critics.

However, its tough subject matter made it difficult to forecast how the film would open and there were reports that pre-release surveys indicated a high level of uninterest among female filmgoers. As it turned out, women slightly outdrew men, 52 per cent to 48 per cent, according to exit surveys.

Universal said the three-day haul showed that people were ready to see such a gut-wrenching film, even if 71 per cent of viewers were aged 30 and above. The film received a grade of ''very good'' or ''excellent'' from 95 per cent of respondents (the norm is 80 per cent), while 76 per cent would definitely recommend it (the norm is 55 per cent), the studio said.

About 51 per cent of people showed up with their spouse.

Oddly, 11 per cent of viewers showed up on a date.

Universal is a unit of General Electric Co's NBC Universal Inc.

''RV'' was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp . ''Stick It'' was released by Touchstone Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co.

Reuters SHB VP0944