'Chuck and Larry' overtakes 'Potter' at box office

LOS ANGELES, July 23 (Reuters) Adam Sandler's faux gay comedy ''I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'' charmed moviegoers, who spent 34.8 million dollars at weekend movie box offices, edging ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' out of the November 1 spot, according to studio estimates.

''Chuck and Larry,'' which features Sandler and Kevin James as heterosexual Brooklyn firefighters who pose as a gay couple to qualify for domestic partner benefits, underscored Sandler's power to open films with box office takes of more than 30 million dollars.

''Anger Management,'' ''Big Daddy'' and ''Click'' -- all starring Sandler -- opened above 40 million dollars, according to ticket sales tracker Media By numbers.

''Adam has a huge, broad fan base. Everything seemed to click,'' said Nikki Rocco, president of domestic distribution for Universal, a unit of General Electric Co's NBC Universal.

''Potter,'' the fifth film based on J K Rowling's blockbuster book series starring a bespectacled British boy wizard, conjured up weekend box office sales of 32.2 million dollars in the debut weekend of Rowling's seventh and final novel.

The ''Potter'' film franchise so far has pulled in more than 1.3 billion dollars in North America, according to Box Office Mojo.

''Hairspray,'' the movie musical starring a cross-dressing John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer as a racist and a plus-size singer as its star, brought in 27.8 million dollars to land at number 3.

Like the successful Broadway show that came before it, ''Hairspray'' was inspired by film director John Waters' quirky 1988 comedy about a unpopular teenager who longs to dance on a television show reminiscent of the legendary ''American Bandstand.'' Alien robot movie ''Transformers,'' co-produced by Paramount Pictures and its DreamWorks division, landed in the fourth place with sales of 20.5 million dollars.

The big-budget film featuring the 1980s toys that transform from cars and planes to good-guy Autobots and their enemy Decepticons, has captured US and Canadian sales of 263.0 million dollars, compared with 207.5 million dollars for ''Potter,'' released by Warner Bros Pictures.

Computer-animated ''Ratatouille'' rounded out the top five, cooking up 11 million dollars and taking its overall total to 165.6 million dollars.

The film, produced by Walt Disney Co units Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures, tells the story of a gastronomically obsessed rat who dreams of becoming a chef in Paris.

Final box office results are due today.

REUTERS CS PM0435