The ebullient, well-reviewed movie version of Hairspray logged the biggest opening weekend ever for a musical film, earning an estimated $27.8 million at the box office from July 20 to 22. Hairspray beat out previous record holder The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which earned $11 million in 1982, and Rent, which earned $10 million in 2005.
As Variety noted, recent musicals Chicago and Dreamgirls opened in limited release, while Hairspray was released to 3,121 theaters and 3,900 screens. Box Office Mojo reported that 1978's Grease, the movie musical hit against which all others are measured and which starred Hairspray's John Travolta, was released at a time when opening weekends were less important, and its eventual box-office take would be the equivalent of more than $500 million today.
Although Hairspray came in third overall, behind the critically panned I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry $34.8 million and the second weekend of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix $32.2 million, its results pleased New Line Cinema; Variety reported that industry sources had predicted a $20 million opening weekend for the Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman musical. "This is a peculiar movie where males don't want to go, but once they get in there, they love the movie," New Line president of distribution David Tuckerman told Variety. The opening weekend audience was estimated to be 70% female.
