BY PAMELA MCCLINTOCK | HollywoodReporter.Com

Throughout the pandemic, many older females have been reluctant to return to the multiplex but are turning out in force to see the Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum-led movie.

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s The Lost City opened to a better-than-expected $31 million domestically from 4,252 theaters ia significant win for the box office recovery.

Until now, males under the age of 35 have fueled the recovery, while titles depending upon older adults — particularly older females — have lagged.

Paramount’s Lost City, an action-packed romance adventure that’s a throwback to the era of Romancing the Stone, bucked that trend in a major way. Roughly 60 percent of Friday ticket buyers were female, while a whopping 47 percent were over 35.

The gender demo changed as the weekend continued but females still led by 56 percent, but in terms of age, 47 percent were still over 35.

The movie over-indexed everywhere west of the Mississippi, was at norm in the southeast and under-indexed in the northeast. Canada came in with a healthy 7.54 percent. Top markets that over-indexed included Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Denver, Tampa, Minneapolis, Portland OR, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Albuquerque, Honolulu and Oklahoma City. Top markets that under-indexed included NY, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Boston.

“The Lost City has breathed theatrical life into the adventure-comedy-romance genre which has been somewhat scarce of late,” Paramount domestic distribution president Chris Aronson said. “A sensational opening!”

Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame also stars in the movie, which pleased crowds at the recent SXSW fest when making its world premiere there.

Bullock stars as a reclusive romance-adventure author who goes on a publicity tour with her handsome cover model (Tatum). She’s kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Radcliffe), and a real-life adventure ensues.

The Batman continued to fare nicely, earning $20.5 million to finish Sunday with $332 million domestically.

Indian action pic RRR is also made headlines this weekend and should finish in third place with a North American debut of roughly $11 million from 1,160 locations, a record for an Indian film. Distributor Sarigami is treating the movie as an event offering and is charging more for tickets.

Climbing adventure Infinite Storm (Bleecker Street), starring Naomi Watts, didn’t fare so well. The film opted to debut nationwide or in 1,525 locations. Projections show the Bleecker Street release opening to less than a dismal $751,296.

At the specialty box office, the acclaimed Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24), starring Michelle Yeoh, was a breakout hit with a projected opening weekend location average of $50,965 from 10 locations in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Mothering Sunday (Sony Pictures Classics), starring Odessa Young, is opening in five cinemas. The film’s projected weekend per location average is expected to be $1,800 or thereabouts.

Among holdovers back in the top 10, Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home still had plenty to boast three months out as it became only the third film in history to cross the $800 million mark domestically, behind Avengers: Endgame ($858.4 million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936.7 million).

Spidey grossed $2 million for the weekend to finish Sunday with a domestic total of $800.5 million and $1.88 billion globally.

More to come.

March 27, 7:40 a.m. Updated with revised estimates.