Pregnancy, stoner comedies a hit at box office

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A pair of new comedies aimed at distinctly different audiences took the top two spots at the weekend box office in North America, with Tina Fey's "Baby Mama" leading the charge.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, "Baby Mama" earned a better-than-expected $18.3 million, as young women flocked to the "Odd Couple"-style pregnancy hijinks.

The stoner sequel "Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay" opened at No. 2 with $14.6 million, generating buzz among male youngsters.

Last weekend's champion, the Jackie Chan-Jet Li martial-arts vehicle "The Forbidden Kingdom," fell to No. 3 with $11.2 million.

The top 10 contained one other new release, the Hugh Jackman thriller "Deception," which opened at No. 10 with a disappointing $2.2 million.

Audiences were clearly in the mood for laughs, with the bawdy comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" coming in at No. 4 with $11 million in its second weekend, down two places.

Both "Baby Mama" and "Sarah Marshall" were released by Universal Pictures, which rebounded sharply from its George Clooney flop "Leatherheads" earlier this month.

The General Electric Co-owned studio said its comedies gained a foothold ahead of the busy summer season, which begins on Friday with the release of the comic book adaptation "Iron Man," starring Robert Downey Jr.