Los Angeles — With American troops fighting overseas, audiences at home flocked to the intensely realistic military drama "Black Hawk Down."
Ridley Scott's depiction of a failed 1993 U.S. mission in Somalia was in first place in movie theaters over the weekend, bringing in $29 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Black Hawk Down" expanded into wide release after playing in New York and Los Angeles for three weeks, recording the best Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend opening ever. Overall since its release the movie has made $30.8 million.
The film drew in audiences that were 55 percent male and 45 percent female, according to Sony.
"Ordinarily war films tend to do better with men, but patriotism knows no gender, and I think that's a big part of why this film is doing so well," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Opening in second place over the weekend was "Snow Dogs," a comedy starring Cuba Gooding Jr. as a Miami dentist who inherits a pesky team of snow dogs in Alaska. It took in $17.5 million.
"'Snow Dogs' came into a marketplace that has a lot of Oscar contenders, some very serious films, and families need a break, they need something fun," Dergarabedian said.
"Black Hawk Down" dislodged "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" from the first place spot it had held for four weekends in a row.
"It's a tremendous response, particularly for the middle of January," said Jeff Blake, president of worldwide marketing and distribution for Sony. The film, based on journalist Mark Bowden's book of the same name, recasts a military mission that left 18 American soldiers dead as a tale of unlikely heroes.
It recounts the operation to capture two top lieutenants of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The mission went wrong and turned into a fierce 17-hour battle in the streets of Mogadishu between besieged U.S. soldiers and Somali fighters. The film stars Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana, William Fichtner and Jason Issacs.
Overall the weekend's top 12 films grossed an estimated $104.9 million, compared with $125 million over last year's Martin Luther King weekend, which came a week earlier. Last year's holiday weekend featured the release of "Save the Last Dance."
Also this weekend, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" passed "Independence Day" to become the ninth highest-grossing film of all time, with $308.7 million domestic grosses, Dergarabedian said. "Harry Potter" was in 12th place over the weekend with $2.5 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.:
1. "Black Hawk Down," $29 million.
2. "Snow Dogs," $17.5 million.
3. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," $13 million.
4. "A Beautiful Mind," $11 million.
5. "Orange County," $9 million.
6. "Ocean's Eleven," $5.7 million.
7. "The Royal Tenenbaums," $4.3 million.
8. "Kate & Leopold," $3.4 million.
9. "Gosford Park," $3.3 million.
10. "Vanilla Sky," $3.1 million.
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