Miramax Comeback

Bob and Harvey Weinstein returned to the box-office lead as Scary Movie 4 made its debut with $41 million, the first No. 1 opening for the new company founded by the former Miramax bosses.

It set a record for best Easter weekend debut, beating the $30.1 million of Panic Room in 2002, according to studio estimates yesterday.

The animated hit Ice Age: The Meltdown, which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends, slipped to second place with $20 million, raising its total to $147.2 million.

Hollywood’s overall revenues rose for the fourth straight weekend, with the top 12 movies grossing $110 million.

That was up 23 percent from 2005’s Easter weekend, which came three weeks earlier last year. It was up about 45 percent compared with the mid-April weekend last year.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through yesterday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., with final figures to be released today:

1. Scary Movie 4, $41 million

2. Ice Age: The Meltdown, $20 million

3. The Benchwarmers, $10 million

4. The Wild, $9.6 million 5. Take the Lead, $6.7 million 6. Inside Man, $6.3 million 7. Lucky Number Slevin, $4.6 million 8. Thank You for Smoking, $4.45 million 9. Failure to Launch, $2.6 million 10. V for Vendetta, $2.2 million