Chick flick finds box office gold

LOS ANGELES -- Critics called it a bad date movie, but "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" courted movie-goers to the tune of $24.1 million in its first weekend for a No. 1 debut.\nThe martial-arts action comedy "Shanghai Knights" opened in second place with $19.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.\nThe musical "Chicago," which tripled its theater count to 1,841 cinemas, climbed to No. 3 with $10.7 million, lifting its total to $63.7 million since opening in limited release at Christmas.\nThe previous weekend's top movie, the spy thriller "The Recruit," fell to fourth place with $9.5 million.\nThe weekend's other new wide release, the romantic comedy "Deliver Us From Eva" starring LL Cool J, was No. 6 with $7.1 million.\nIt was a strong weekend overall, with the top 12 movies grossing $103.1 million, up 22 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Collateral Damage," "Big Fat Liar" and "Rollerball" debuted in the top three box-office spots.\n"How to Lose a Guy" stars Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey in a romance of deception between a woman trying to get dumped in 10 days to research a magazine column and a man trying to win a bet that he can make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days. The movie generally was written off by reviewers as cutesy and contrived.\n"In this case particularly I think they were way too hard on the movie," said Rob Friedman, vice chairman of Paramount's motion-picture group, which released the romantic comedy. "The public just loves this movie. Kate and Matthew are a tremendous winning combination."\n"How to Lose a Guy" should hold well with Valentine's Day coming this weekend, when "guys definitely roll over for whatever a girl wants," Friedman said. "I think we'll have more guys seeing the movie this weekend than last."\n"Shanghai Knights," Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson's followup to their mini-hit "Shanghai Noon," features the mismatched buddies on a mission in London to thwart villains trying to usurp the British and Chinese thrones.\nThree years ago, "Shanghai Noon" took in $19.6 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, one of the busiest times at theaters. The sequel slightly exceeded that gross over a three-day weekend during Hollywood's quiet winter season, a sign that the Chan-Wilson franchise picked up new fans through the video release of "Shanghai Noon."\n"Shanghai Knights" should end up surpassing the $57 million total gross of the original movie, said Chuck Viane, head of distribution at Disney, which released both flicks.