'Pie' In The Box Office Sky

American Pie took a huge slice of the weekend box office as gross-out comedies served up strong business, estimates show.

The raunchy comedy about high school guys trying to lose their virginity opened at No. 1 over the weekend with $18.1 million in ticket sales, according to estimates Sunday.

Wild Wild West was knocked into second place with $16.7 million. The loose remake of the old TV spy series lost 40 percent of its audience in its second week.

Arlington Road, the only other movie opening in wide release, debuted with a disappointing $7.4 million to tie for sixth place with Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. The new thriller stars Jeff Bridges as a college professor who suspects his suburban neighbor, Tim Robbins, is a terrorist.

"Everybody expected American Pie to do well, and it did," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. "It boasted no big stars and succeeded purely on the strength of its advertising campaign."

Crude comedies have held a grip on audiences this summer, with Adam Sandler's Big Daddy in third place, the South Park feature in eighth and the Austin Powers sequel in ninth.

Dergarabedian said that success is due, in part, to the popularity of last summer's blockbuster, There's Something About Mary.

"That movie raised the bar for crude humor, and its success has gotten not only audiences interested but also studios, who are now willing to take chances," Dergarabedian said.

Big Daddy, which features Sandler and a little boy urinating in public and brutalizing in-line skaters at a park, earned $16.3 million in its third week for a total of $116.8 million.

Unapologetically obscene, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut has drawn critical raves. The film earned $7.1 million in its second week. However, it fell from fourth to eighth place, losing 37 percent of its audience. That may be due to tougher enforcement of the R-rating, which could have kept young fans away.

Meanwhile, Disney's child-friendly animated Tarzan continued drawing respectable crowds by deliberately targeting older moviegoers, said Chuck Viane, president of distribution at Disney's Buena Vista pictures.

"The Tarzan audience is actually broadening to more teens and more adults. That's what's keeping it up there," Viane said. The vine-swinging apeman earned $11.3 million for a total of $129.5 million in its fourth week.

John Travolta's thriller, The General's Daughter, held on to fifth place with $8.1 million, defying mediocre reviews and a crowded box office.

Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, about the sweltering months when serial killer David Berkowitz terrorized New York City, drew large crowds in urban areas but played to mostly empty suburban and rural theaters, Viane said.

The film felto 10th place in its second week with a paltry $3.4 million.

Ticket sales have routinely broken box office records this summer, but receipts from the weekend were down 6.9 percent from the same time last year, when Lethal Weapon 4 opened at No. 1 while Armageddon, Small Soldiers, Doctor Dolittle, and Mulan were still in the top five.

Here are the estimated grosses for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

1. American Pie, $18.1 million.

2. Wild Wild West, $16.7 million.

3. Big Daddy, $16.3 million.

4. Tarzan, $11.3 million.

5. The General's Daughter, $8.1 million.

6. Arlington Road, $7.4 million.

6. Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, $7.4 million.

8. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, $7.1 million.

9. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, $6.5 million.

10. Summer of Sam, $3.4 million.

Written by Anthony Breznican