LOS ANGELES - Hollywood's belief that celebrities can open movies was badly shaken this weekend as Jen & Ben crashed and burned in their summer bummer "Gigli" while "American Wedding" with no big names did $34 million-plus.

"Gigli," Revolution Studios' R-rated gangster romance starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, opened to a limp $3.8 million via Sony (SNE: Research, Estimates)'s Columbia Pictures. The demise of "Gigli," which cost $54 million and is heading for $9-$10 million domestically, could make Hollywood think twice about celebrity driven films.

While Affleck and J. Lo both are high profile celebs, neither is a box office superstar able to ensure big opening grosses. Nonetheless, their casting was a no-brainer in Hollywood and seemed even more promising when they fell in love during production and were in the media spotlight non-stop. Unfortunately, the media didn't fall in love with "Gigli."

Jennifer Lopez, left, and Ben Affleck. How did movie audiences pronounce 'Gigli'? Ugh.

"It had a stench going in," explained one competing studio executive. "Ben Affleck's not a superstar. Audiences like Jennifer Lopez in things that are appealing, but a lesbian hitwoman is not an endearing character."

Affleck and Lopez both have done better before. Lopez played a hotel maid who finds romance in the comedy "Maid in Manhattan," which grossed nearly $94 million. Affleck was a spandex-clad superhero in the comic book fantasy "Daredevil," which did $102.5 million.

Despite being lean on celebrity names, "American Wedding" from Vivendi Universal's (V: Research, Estimates) Universal Pictures eloped with $34.3 million. The third in Universal's "American Pie" franchise, its launch compares respectably to "Pie 2," which arrived to $45.1 million in August 2001 and did $145.1 million domestically. "Wedding" is heading for a very profitable $100 million and should also do well in DVD release.

"What's so great is that this is a moderate budgeted film that's probably going to be the most profitable for the studio this year," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco told me. "There's no back-end participations in it and it only cost us $55 million to make. This is a franchise that we built from the ground floor."

"American Wedding" stars Jason Biggs, left, and Alyson Hannigan.

In its exit polls, Rocco said, "The scores were above average, particularly from the under-25 group, which is the target audience. Fifty-seven percent was under 25 (while with) 'American Pie 2' 67 percent of the audience was under 25. Seventy-seven percent was under 25 for the original."

"The public has grown to love these characters and the fact that this culminates in a wedding might have something to do with (its audience) getting a little bit older," Rocco added. "For the core audience, it was 92 percent in the top two boxes (excellent and very good)."

Universal's critically acclaimed adult drama "Seabiscuit," co-financed with DreamWorks, expanded its run and showed great legs. It finished a strong fourth with $17.5 million, down only 16 percent.

"That's an unbelievable hold," Rocco said. "I (looked back) and there has not been any film since Feb. 7 when 'Chicago' went wide that held as well. In 10 days it's done nearly $50 million. It's obvious the picture has the ability to go past $100 million."

It also was another outstanding weekend for Disney (DIS: Research, Estimates). The family comedy sequel "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" from Dimension Films, a unit of Disney's Miramax Films, was second with $20.1 million, off 40 percent. Its 10-day cumulative total is $69 million, heading for $100 million or more.

Buena Vista/Disney's action adventure "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" was third with $19.1 million, down just 17 percent. With $209.8 million on board, it should sail to $250 million.

BV said that as a distributor it passed the $1 billion gross mark for the year Sunday. It achieved that milestone three months faster than in previous years.  

-- Martin Grove appears Mondays on CNNfn's "The Biz," which airs at 12:30 p.m., 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., ET.