"Gold" looks like solid investment at box office

By Carl DiOrio

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - How old school: Most moviegoers will have to settle for 2-D this weekend.

A week after the 3-D phenomenon "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert" rode a tween tsunami to take the No. 1 slot at the North American box office, three conventional films will open Friday.

"Fool's Gold," a romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, is expected to reach north of $20 million and probably cop the weekend's bragging rights.

Pre-release surveys indicated strong interest among female moviegoers, and "we're not doing bad with males," said Jeff Goldstein, executive vice president of distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures, which is handling the film.

Hudson offers guy appeal, of course, but the studio also is emphasizing adventure-film elements in TV spots to market "Gold" as broadly as possible. What guy doesn't like to see boats blow up? Or so the thinking goes.

Elsewhere, Universal debuts its Martin Lawrence comedy "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins," and Picturehouse launches its comedy documentary "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show."

Lawrence, last in theaters with "Wild Hogs," always draws beyond his urban base, but just how much "Roscoe" crosses over into mainstream appeal will decide the difference between a three-day gross in the low-teen millions and the mid- to high teens.

"Wild West," which follows a stand-up comedy tour put together by Vaughn, has gotten decent early reviews. But anything higher than teen millions seems unlikely, given its relatively modest release in just 962 locations (vs. 3,125 for "Fool's Gold" and 2,385 for "Roscoe").