Miramax's PG-13 rated martial arts adventure Iron Monkey opened in sixth place to a brassy ESTIMATED $6 million at 1,225 theaters ($4,898 per theater).
Directed by Yuen Wo Ping, it stars Yu Rong-Guang.
"This is one of those movies that you do because it's a labor of love," Miramax's David Kaminow said Sunday morning, referring to the company's release of the well regarded 1993 Hong Kong film which has never had a U.S. theatrical release.
"It's a labor of love for the company -- like when we restored El Cid and Belle De Jour and things of that nature. This is really sort of, as we like to say, a gift for moviegoers who appreciate that sort of undiscovered gems. These movies are modestly profitable. It's not about that, it's really about the cinematic aspects of it all. We're working on a Cinema Paradiso restoration, as well. This seems to be something that we're going to start focus on in addition to our other (releases), just having these restorations and bringing back movies that the public may not be that aware of and that from a cinematic standpoint are of some importance."
Paramount and Village Roadshow Pictures' PG-13 youth appeal comedy Zoolander slipped three slots to seventh place in its third week with a less funny ESTIMATED $5.1 million (-46 percent) at 2,522 theaters (+2 theaters; $2,022 per theater). Its cume is approximately $35.8 million, heading for $45 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by and starring Ben Stiller, it was produced by Scott Rudin, Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld.