Nicolas Cage delivers a box-office smackdown to Dwayne Johnson.
It took awhile, but moviegoers finally got tired of seeing the same films–Slumdog Millionaire, Taken and Paul Blart: Mall Cop–over and over again. Three new movies hit the marketplace this weekend and all three finished at the top of the charts. The Nicolas Cage disaster movie Knowing came out on top with $24.8 million. That’s the fifth-best opening of Cage’s career, behind both National Treasure movies, Ghost Rider and Gone in 60 Seconds. Landing in second place was the Paul Rudd bromantic comedy I Love You, Man with $18 million, while the Julia Roberts/Clive Owen romantic thriller Duplicity had to make do with the bronze medal, earning $14.4 million. That’s not great news for Roberts, whose last #1 hit in which she had a starring role was The Mexican way back in 2001.
After topping the box-office charts last weekend, Dwayne Johnson couldn’t fend off Nic, Paul or Julia his second week out. Race to Witch Mountain fell to the number four spot with $13 million. Witch Mountain stands to take another heavy hit next weekend as the family-oriented animated blockbuster Monsters vs. Aliens crashes into theaters. Still, with $45 million already in the bank, the movie should finish its theatrical run with a decent $70 million haul and stands to turn a profit on DVD. And at least Race to Witch Mountain cost substantially less than Watchmen. The Zack Snyder-helmed comic-book blockbuster reportedly cost around $150 million and, after its fifth place finish this weekend, has only earned $98 million. Somewhere, Alan Moore is chortling.
Our long national nightmare is finally over: Paul Blart: Mall Cop finally dropped out of the Top Ten, ending its improbable two-month run as 2009′s biggest hit so far. The Liam Neeson action flick Taken continues to hang in there, finishing in seventh place behind The Last House on the Left. Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire finished in eighth place and will probably drop out of the Top Ten this weekend, just in time for its DVD debut next Tuesday. Madea Goes to Jail took the number nine spot and looks to finish just shy of $100 million. No wonder Tyler Perry has already announced that he’s donning Madea’s wig again for his next film, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, which as GIANT reported, is also set to star Mary J. Blige. Finally, Henry Selick’s Coraline made what will undoubtedly be its final Top Ten appearance in tenth place. But the movie can leave with its head held high; with $72 million in the bank, Coraline is the second-highest grossing stop-motion animated film in history, finishing just behind Chicken Run.
Looking at limited releases for a moment, the new documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor, which chronicles the months leading up to the legendary fashion designer’s retirement, set records in its premiere at New York’s iconic Film Forum theater. The Matt Tyrnauer-directed movie has earned $39,106 since it opened last Wednesday, making it the highest-grossing doc so far this year and one of Film Forum’s highest-grossing premieres ever. Pick up the March issue of GIANT Magazine, on stands now, to see our review.
The full Top Ten list appears below courtesy of the-numbers.com. Next week, look for Monsters vs. Aliens to dominate the competition, while the action movie 12 Rounds and the horror title The Haunting in Connecticut fight each other for the scraps.
The Top Ten: March 20-22, 2009
1. Knowing: $24.8
2. I Love You, Man: $18
3. Duplicity: $14.4
4. Race to Witch Mountain: $13/$44.7
5. Watchmen: $6.7/$98
6. The Last House on the Left: $5.9/$24
7. Taken: $4.1/$133.1
8. Slumdog Millionaire: $2.7/$137.2
9. Madea Goes to Jail: $2.5/$87.2
10. Coraline: $2.1/$72.8
