The North American box office continued to look healthy, improving some 55% on the same weekend last year this Superbowl weekend, when the competition from sports on television is traditionally intense.

Heading the pack was Columbia Pictures' romantic comedy The Wedding Planner - a co-production with IMF and Intermedia (which has international rights) - which stars Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey. The romantic comedy directed by first-timer Adam Shankman grossed an estimated $14m on 2,785 theatres for an average of $5,027 per theatre.

Meanwhile the Golden Globe Awards had a positive impact on Cast Away which fell just 20% at number three, Traffic which fell 24% at number four and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which fell 16% to take $5.1m in 869 theatres. Crouching Tiger's average of $5,846 was the highest in the top ten and higher than both newcomers The Wedding Planner and Sugar & Spice.

Sugar & Spice, released by the beleagured New Line Cinema, didn't perform as well as expected with $6m at 2,150 theatres for a poor average of $2,802. Directed by Francine McDougall, it stars Marla Sokoloff, Marley Shelton, Melissa George and Mena Suvari as a bunch of high school cheerleaders who plan a bank robbery.

ESTIMATED TOP TEN US JAN 26-28
Film (Distributor)/International distribution/Estimated weekend gross/Estimated total to date
1 (-) The Wedding Planner (Columbia) Intermedia $14m --
2 (1) Save The Last Dance (Paramount) UIP $10m $59.5m
3 (2) Cast Away (20th Century Fox) DreamWorks $8.9m $194.1m
4 (3) Traffic (USA Films) IEG $6.5m $56.3m
5 (-) Sugar And Spice (New Line) New Line International $6m --
6 (8) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Sony Classics) Good Machine International $5.1m $44.5m
7 tied (6) Finding Forrester (Columbia) Columbia TriStar $4.8m $35.9m
7 tied (4) Snatch (Screen Gems) Columbia TriStar $4.8m $15.8m
9 (5) What Women Want (Paramount) Icon International $4.3m $169.5m
10 (9) Miss Congeniality (Warner Bros) Warner Bros $4m $93.1m