Box Office Report: Where's Le-beef?!? (Git it? Like those commercials)

Dude here again. Let me tell about a special place in the land. It's called Medieval TImes, and it will rock your freakin' face off. They've got jousting, and battles, and falcons, and you can eat with your hands and yell "Huzzah" as much as you want until your throat hurts and/or security forcibly removes you from the premises. But don't let my court-ordered injunction stop you. Enjoy, and yell an "H" word for me. (And be sure to tip your serving wenches for all the Pepsi they bring you).

This weekend, four MORE new movies opened up wide, and some were pretty high profile. A few actually did some decent business, too! Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates. The actuals will be available on Monday).

1. Eagle Eye (Par/DW)- $29.2, 3510 screens, week 1, $29.2 total

2. Nights in Rodanthe (WB)- $13.5, 2704 screens, week 1, $13.5 total

3. Lakeview Terrace (ScrG) - $7.0, 2467 screens, week 2, $25.7 total

4. Fireproof (Gold) - $6.5, 839 screens, week 1, $6.5 total

5. Burn After Reading (Focus) - $6.1, 2649 screens, week 3, $45.5 total

6. Igor (MGM/Wein)- $5.5, 2341 screens, week 2, $14.3 total

7. Righteous Kill (Over) - $3.8, 3011 screens, week 3, $34.8 total

8. My Best Friend's Girl (LGF) - $3.8, 2636 screens, week 2, $14.5 total

9. Miracle at St. Anna (BV) $3.5, 1185 screens, week 1, $3.5 total

10. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (LGF) - $3.1, 1604 screens, week 3, $32.7 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that even though the U.S. economy is on the brink of collapse, we still managed to find almost $30 million for Shia LeBouf. I want you to think about that for a moment. What does it make you feel? Joy? Shame? Indifference? A pathetic combination of all three? Anyway, North By Northwest, Yo (the title I now refer to Eagle Eye as) took in a large amount of money, proving once again that the combination of LeBouf and a modern Hitchcock movie with lots of bang can dazzle us for a whole weekend.

Also opening this week, Nights in Rodanthe, a movie so overstuffed with goodness and warmth that the prints were delivered to the movie theaters encased in syrup. Still, enough people chose this over Shia to make it a respectable enough opening that won't matter until everyone discovers the joys of Aunt Jemima in their home theater system on a cold winter's night with the one you love.

Fireproof opened in fourth place. Fireproof is not, I repeat NOT, the long-awaited sequel to the 1998 Howie Long classic Firestorm. Instead it's a touching, faith based Christian-themed drama starring Kirk Cameron as a firefighter with marital problems. I'm willing to bet good money that at no time in this movie does Mike Seaver throw an axe into somebody's head. Regardless, having not even heard of this movie, the film pulled in about 12 times it's reported budget. In three days.

Fireproof also managed to do far better than Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna. The WWII drama was met by harsh reviews and an almost 3 hour run time in it's "check minus" columns already, and audiences weren't buying it. Sorry Spike. For what it's worth, I'd probably see Inside Man 2, if you wind up directing it.

And it brings me great sadness this week to finally announce the departure of The Dark Knight from the top ten. All you fanboys who wanted to push the domestic gross over that of Titanic failed to do so. I'm blaming this squarely on your desires to North By Northwest, Yo this weekend. There was a time when people actually TRIED. Those times are long gone.

Below the radar, Choke opened up. Choke is based on a Chuck "Fight Club" Palahniuk book, stars Sam Rockwell, and is actually pretty damn funny. It opened up on 435 screens and took in $1.3 million. Also, The Lucky Ones, which is both an Iraq movie AND the fifth consequtive weekly release from Lionsgate, made $208,000. Which is less than

There you have my amazing break down. Next week, the movie about the talking chihuahuas FINALLY opens up. Will it capture the hearts and minds of the world? Or will it be another Space Chimps?

Until next weekend....
(less than two months away!)