'Bucket List' kicks off with $19.5M take

Score one for the geezers. "The Bucket List," the tale of two cancer patients who decide to travel the world before they die, bested movies about treasure hunting, bumbling crooks and pirates to top the weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"This was definitely a win for the older audience," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, said of the movie, which stars 70-year-old actors Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. "The conventional wisdom is the younger audience drives the box office."

The Warner Bros. release directed by Rob Reiner "skews to older audiences, but I think the star power is what brought the audience," Dergarabedian said. "Never underestimate the clout of the older movie audience."

In its first week in national distribution, "The Bucket List" brought in $19.5 million at more than 2,900 theaters. It initially had opened on Christmas Day in limited release.

The film was closely followed by the comedy "First Sunday," featuring Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan as hapless petty criminals who scheme to rob a church but end up being rewarded with a lesson about second chances. The Sony Screen Gems film banked $19 million at 2,200 theaters.

"These two films appealed to different audiences and both did very well," Dergarabedian said. "January is not known as a hot month for box office."

The No. 1 box office draw for three consecutive weeks — Disney's "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" with Nicolas Cage — dropped to fourth place, with $11.5 million in tickets at 3,400 theaters. It has banked more than $187 million in domestic receipts.