Comedy spoof 'Epic Movie' leads US box office

LOS ANGELES, Jan 28 (Reuters) The lowbrow comedy spoof ''Epic Movie'' opened at No 1 at the weekend box office in North America, while several newly minted Oscar nominees enjoyed solid sales, according to studio estimates issued today.

''Epic Movie,'' one of four new wide releases in the marketplace, earned about 19.2 million dollars since opening Friday, exceeding industry expectations.

The film, which spoofs such movies as ''The Da Vinci Code'' and ''Snakes on a Plane,'' was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. The studio said the youth-skewing comedy cost in the low-20 million dollar range to make.

Hollywood couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner had competing new entries, albeit targeted at different audiences.

Affleck's gangland saga ''Smokin' Aces'' (Universal Pictures) opened at No. 2 with a solid 14.3 million dollars, ahead of Garner's romance ''Catch and Release'' (Columbia Pictures) at No. 4 with a modest 8.0 million dollars. The werewolf romance ''Blood&Chocolate'' (MGM) opened well out of the top 10 with just 2.1 million dollars.

After two weeks at the top, Columbia's urban dance drama ''Stomp the Yard'' fell to No. 5 with 7.8 milliondollars; its total rose to 50.7 million dollars.

Universal Pictures is a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is privately held.

As for the films honored with Oscar nominations last Tuesday, leading contender ''Dreamgirls'' fell three places to No. 6 with 6.6 million dollars, despite a boost in its theater count.

Although it led the field with eight nods, Paramount Pictures' musical drama failed to secure a mention for the coveted best picture title, an omission that relegates it to the sidelines as hype builds for the February 25 awards ceremony.

Independent distributor Picturehouse's Spanish-language fantasy ''Pan's Labyrinth'' earned 4.8 million dollars, slipping one to No 8. Mexican director Guillermo del Toro's six-time Oscar nominee has earned .3 million to date, and is well on its way to breaking the record for a Spanish-language release, currently held by ''Like Water For Chocolate'' with 21 million dollars.

''The Queen,'' also with six nominations including best actress for Helen Mirren, held steady at No. 9 with 4 million dollars. The total for the Miramax Films release stands at 41.2 million dollars after 18 weeks.

Martin Scorsese's crime thriller ''The Departed'' was reissued on the heels of its five nominations, and earned 3.0 million dollars at No. 12. The Warner Bros. release has earned 125 million dollars after 17 weeks.

The multilingual ensemble drama ''Babel'' (Paramount Vantage) -- No 2 on the Oscar tally with seven nominations -- earned 2.6 million dollars , taking its total to 27.2 million dollars.

Paramount and Paramount Vantage are units of Viacom Inc.

Picturehouse and Warner Bros. are units of Time Warner Inc.

Miramax is a unit of Walt Disney Co.

Reuters DH VP0125