“I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” attracted the vast majority of North American moviegoers this weekend, all probably eager to laugh with Adam Sandler and Kevin James.

Faux gay comedy “Chick and Larry,” starring funny duo Adam Sandler and Kevin James, had a winning debut this weekend, climbing right up to the No.1 spot at the North American box office, with ticket sales worth $34.8 million.

Moviegoers were not intimated by the less agreeable reviews and flocked to see Sandler and James pretend to be heterosexual firefighters pretending to be a gay couple in order to receive financial benefits blocked by bureaucratic nonsense.

Sandler’s previous comedies had somewhat more successful box office openings – “Anger Management,” “Big Daddy” and “Click” each grossed more than $40 million in the first weekend, according to ticket sales tracker Media By Numbers.

“Chuck and Larry” was nevertheless not a disappointment for executives at Universal Pictures, distributor for the film, who expressed satisfaction with its debut weekend.

“Adam has a huge, broad fan base. Everything seemed to click,” Nikki Rocco, president of domestic distribution for Universal, said.

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” the fifth film in the series released last weekend, slid to No. 2 with ticket sales of $32.2 million. July has been Potter-mania at its highest, with a movie release and a book release – the seventh and last, oh grieving Harry Potter fans!

Fears that the main cats would change for future Harry Potter films have been allayed, after it was announced earlier this year that Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint had all signed on for the upcoming screen adaptations.

The Harry Potter film franchise has piled on a treasure chest of more than $1.3 billion in the United States and Canada alone, according to the Web site Box Office Mojo.

The newly released musical “Hairspray,” starring Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Queen Latifah, debuted at No. 3, with ticket sales worth $27.8 million. Travolta has probably been enjoying his recent interviews, where he has had the opportunity of talking about high heels and dresses and being groped on the set of the film, where he played the shapely matron Edna Turnblad.

“Transformers” found itself at No.4 in its third week in theaters, with $20.5 million, while “Ratatouille” came in fifth with $11 million in ticket sales for moviegoers curious to see the mousy chef.