LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Movie-goers prefer blondes.
Reese Witherspoon's law-school comedy "Legally Blonde" debuted as the weekend's top film, taking in $20.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The heist thriller "The Score," starring brunettes Robert De Niro and Edward Norton, premiered in second place with $19 million. Marlon Brando co-stars.
Last week's top movie, "Cats & Dogs," fell to third with $12 million.
The animated sci-fi adventure "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," starring a computer-generated brunette, opened at No. 4 with $11.5 million. That take pushed the movie's total since opening Wednesday to $19.1 million.
The overall box office declined significantly compared to the same weekend last year, when "X-men" debuted with a whopping $54.5 million. The top 12 movies grossed $108.3 million, down 25 percent from the same weekend a year ago.
Hollywood remains on track to break its summer revenue record set in 1999. Big films remaining include "Jurassic Park III" and "America's Sweethearts" this week, "Planet of the Apes" the following week and "American Pie 2" and "Rush Hour 2" next month.
"We're in a little lull right now," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, which tracks the box office. "I think we're going to have a final stretch of summer that will be extremely strong."
In "Legally Blonde," Witherspoon plays a California sorority girl who follows her snooty ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School after he dumps her for being too blonde.
"I think it just looked bright and fun," said Robert Levin, head of distribution for MGM, which released "Legally Blonde." "When I opened the newspaper on Friday and looked at the ads, it popped out at me that this was the one where people said, `Let's just go have fun at the movies."'
"The Score" drew mostly older adults attracted by its notable trio of stars.
"I think it was the ensemble cast and the stature they brought to it," said Wayne Lewellen, head of distribution for Paramount, which released "The Score."
Inspired by the video-game series, "Final Fantasy" earned praise for presenting semi-realistic human characters through computer animation. But it received generally poor reviews for a weak story and dialogue.
Distributor Sony still had high hopes for "Final Fantasy" because of its solid opening of $5.1 million Wednesday.
"I think the weekend's disappointing based on the Wednesday figure. That kind of raised expectations," said Sony spokesman Blaise Noto. "But the game's got a very strong fan base, and it's fans that tend to go on the first day."
In limited release, Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn's mob comedy "Made" opened strongly, taking in $118,500 in three theaters in New York City and Los Angeles, for an impressive $39,500 average.
Favreau wrote and directed the film; he and Vaughn co-produced it. It was Favreau and Vaughn's first collaboration since their 1996 indie hit "Swingers." The movie goes into wider release July 27.
The ogre tale "Shrek" climbed past "Toy Story 2" as No. 2 among the highest-grossing animated movies. "Shrek" took in $3.6 million over the weekend, pushing its total to $247.3 million, behind only "The Lion King" at $312.8 million.
"The Mummy Returns" took in $460,000 over the weekend, becoming the second movie this year to top $200 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures are to be released Monday.
1. "Legally Blonde," $20.4 million.
2. "The Score," $19 million.
3. "Cats & Dogs," $12 million.
4. "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," $11.5 million.
5. "Scary Movie 2," $9.5 million.
6. "The Fast and the Furious," $7.8 million.
7. "Dr. Dolittle 2," $7 million.
8. "Kiss of the Dragon," $5.8 million.
9. "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," $5.1 million
10. "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," $4 million.
