‘Maid’ and ‘Trek’ top enterprises

Hoping to jump-start Christmas moviegoing, the studios launched four wide-release movies this weekend, and Jennifer Lopez squeezed ahead of the pack with an estimated $19 million for “Maid in Manhattan.” The romantic comedy pairing Lopez and Ralph Fiennes beamed in front of “Star Trek: Nemesis” by only $250,000, if studio estimates released Sunday hold up when full weekend results come in today.

But Fox’s modest $20-million-budget “Drumline” arguably made the flashiest entrance, at No. 3 with $13 million. The film captured a largely African American audience but also demonstrated huge crossover appeal -- 40% of its audience was non-black With an average of $7,119 in 1,833 locations, “Drumline” posted the highest per-theater average of any widely released film this weekend.

“The movie had universal themes, it was well marketed and it got good reviews, which really matter around this time of year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. “It came in at No. 3, but it was in fewer theaters and they were filling more seats in each of those theaters than the top two films.”

Lopez’s latest picture no doubt got a boost from the tidal wave of publicity surrounding the release of her latest album and her recently announced engagement to actor Ben Affleck.

Directed by Wayne Wang and co-starring well-regarded British actors Natasha Richardson and Bob Hoskins, the Cinderella tale pulled in a large adult audience as well as many women under 25. The $55-million-budgeted movie skewed more to women, with 60% of the audience female. Although “Maid” opened with numbers comparable to past romantic comedies released during the crowded holiday season -- such as “Family Man” in 2000 with $10.5 million and “Jerry Maguire” in 1996 with $17 million -- it still didn’t come close to “What Women Want,” which opened to $33 million in December 2000.

Stiff competition kept “Star Trek: Nemesis” in a lower orbit, with its $18.8-million opening coming in below the past two “Star Trek” movies. “Star Trek: Insurrection” opened to $22 million in 1998 and “Star Trek: First Contact” came in with $30 million in 1996. Disney’s latest Rob Schneider picture, “The Hot Chick,” opened to a not-so-hot $7.5 million. Schneider’s last Disney picture, “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” opened with $12.2 million in December 1999.

Other smaller films fared much better. Jack Nicholson’s dark comedy-drama, “About Schmidt,” grossed a hefty $47,167 per theater on six screens for a total of $283,000. The film, directed by Alexander Payne (“Election”), won several Los Angeles Film Critics awards over the weekend including best picture and best screenplay. Nicholson tied with Daniel Day-Lewis (“Gangs of New York”) for the group’s best actor.

This weekend’s top 12 films grossed nearly 3% more than the comparable weekend last year, bringing in $90.5 million versus $87.9 million last year, according to Exhibitor Relations.

In other news, “Talk to Her,” whose director, Pedro Almodovar, was named best director by L.A. film critics over the weekend, opened strongly here this weekend, grossing an estimated $25,000 in one Westside theater, and $27,500 in three New York locations. The Sony Pictures Classics release, which opened in New York last month, has made $500,000 to date. Also debuting in limited release was the Irish drama “Evelyn,” with “Die Another Day” star Pierce Brosnan. “Evelyn” took in $72,000 at 15 theaters for a $4,800 average.