The combination of Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day gave us a de facto five day weekend, and gave the studios a reason to release movies that cater to practically every audience. Teenage boys seem to have won the battle of the niches, with Jumper winning the 3-day part of the weekend with $27.2 million, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Teenage girls came in second, with Step Up 2 the Streets making about $19.7 million, enough to put family movie The Spiderwick Chronicles in 3rd place with $19.1 million. Spiderwick will have the consolation of winning the 5-day weekend race for 2nd place though, as it had a better day on Thursday, and should win larger audiences on Monday's holiday.

The battle of the romantic movies, meanwhile, was fought to an effective stalemate. Fool's Gold topped the list with $13.1 million, Definitely, Maybe opened with a soft $9.7 million, and 27 Dresses squeezed out another weekend in the top ten with an estimated $3.2 million.

- Weekend Estimates

Date posted: 2008-02-17