The house has been brought down again.
The Queen Latifah/Steve Martin comedy Bringing Down the House stayed at number one for the second week in a row with a $22.4 million* haul.
The new kids on the block were not too far behind. The ‘tween actioner Agent Cody Banks opened at No. 2 with $15 million and the knife-driven thriller The Hunted came in third place with $13.5 million, while the creepy rat movie Willard scurried into eighth place with $4 million.
Last week’s war-torn opener Tears of the Sun slipped from its No. 2 spot to fourth place at $8.8 million, while the musical Chicago rounded out the top five with a hefty $7.7 million.
THE TOP TEN
Buena Vista’s PG-13 Bringing Down the House laughed to the bank once again with an ESTIMATED $22.4 million (-28%) in 2,801 theaters ($7,997 per theater). Its cume is approximately $61.6 million, which means moviegoers apparently do want to see a ghetto fabulous gal from the ‘hood turn an uptight white guy’s life upside down.
Directed by Adam Shankman, it stars Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy and Joan Plowright.
MGM’s junior spy movie aimed directly at the highly profitable 10-13 age group, the PG-rated Agent Cody Banks, debuted in second place with an ESTIMATED $15 million at 3,369 theaters ($4,452 per theater).
The film centers on a typical teenager who loves to skateboard, hates math and feels like a complete idiot around girls. But Cody Banks differs from other teens in one big way: He’s actually a junior CIA agent out to save the world–and of course, a girl.
Directed by Harald Zwart, it stars Frankie Muniz, Hilary Duff and Angie Harmon.
Taking a look at the flip side of what being a government agent is really like, Paramount Pictures’ dark R-rated thriller The Hunted opened at No. 3 with an ESTIMATED $13.5 million at 2,516 theaters ($5,366 per theater).
The story follows a Special Forces assassin trained in the use of knives who goes off the deep end and must be stopped by the agent who taught him to be a killing machine.
Directed by William Friedkin, it stars Tommy Lee Jones, Benicio Del Toro and Connie Nielsen.
Sony Pictures’ R-rated Tears of the Sun fell from last week’s No. 2 spot to No. 4 with an ESTIMATED $8.8 million (-48%) at 2,973 theaters ($2,960 per theater). With a highly patriotic theme about an elite Navy SEAL team sent in to rescue a American doctor and the Nigerian village she’s taking care of, its cume is approximately $30.8 million.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, it stars Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci.
Riding high on some serious awards buzz after winning several Screen Actors Guild honors, Miramax Films’ PG-13 Chicago slipped one notch to fifth place with an ESTIMATED $7.7 million but still managed to gain 13 percent more in box office totals than last week. The film played in 2,600 theaters ($2,966 per theater) and now in its 12th week has a cume of approximately $125.4 million.
Directed by Rob Marshall, it stars Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere.
Sixth place belonged to the R-rated DreamWorks laffer Old School, which dropped three spots from last week with an ESTIMATED $6.8 million (-26%) in 2,452 theaters (-255 theaters; $2,773 per theater). The comedy about a trio of former college buds who start their own off-campus fraternity has accumulated approximately $60.9 million so far.
Directed by Todd Phillips, it stars Luke Wilson, Will Farrell and Vince Vaughn.
Romance still makes it up there on the top ten list as Paramount’s PG-13 How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days dropped from fifth to seventh place with an ESTIMATED $4.8 million (-28%) in 2,430 theaters (-467 theaters; $1,988 per theater). Now in its sixth week, the film’s cume is approximately $93.8 million.
Directed by Donald Petrie, it stars Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.
*Box office estimates provided by Exhibitor Relations, Inc.
New Line Cinema’s ratty PG-13 Willard debuted at No. 8 with an ESTIMATED $4 million at 1,761 theaters ($2,286 per theater).
A loosely based remake of the 1971 cult classic, the story revolves around a timid introvert who can psychically command his whiskered, four-legged friends to do whatever he wants–including “tearing up” some of his enemies. Blech.
Directed by Glen Morgan, it stars Crispin Glover, R. Lee Ermey and Laura Elena Harring.
20th Century Fox’s PG-13 comic-book actioner Daredevil shimmied its way down from seventh to ninth place with an ESTIMATED $3.040 million (-42%) at 2,054 theaters (-724 theaters; $1,480 per theater). In its fifth week, the film’s cume is approximately $96 million.
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson, it stars Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell and Michael Clarke Duncan.
Barely coming in under Daredevil was Warner Bros. R-rated Cradle 2 the Grave, which dropped four spots to take 10th place with an ESTIMATED $3.003 million (-54%) at 2,150 theaters (-475 theaters; $1,397 per theater). The high-octane actioner’s cume is approximately $31.7 million.
Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, it stars DMX, Jet Li, Gabrielle Union, Anthony Anderson and Tom Arnold.
OTHER OPENINGS
Fox Searchlight’s PG-13 Bend It Like Beckham, which was a huge hit in Britain last year, opened in limited U.S. release with an ESTIMATED $151,717 in 6 theaters ($25,286 per theater).
The film follows the aspirations of a young Indian girl living in London whose only desire is to play soccer–even if it means going against her traditional family’s wishes.
Directed Gurinder Chadha, it stars Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
WEEKEND COMPARISONS
This weekend’s top 12 films grossed $93.3 million, down 1.33 percent from last weekend’s take of $94.5 million, as well as down 22 percent from the $120 million of the same weekend last year.
Last year’s top grossers were all newcomers: 20th Century Fox’s Ice Age opened at No. 1 with a whopping $46.3 million (3,316 theaters; $13,966 per theater) while Sony’s Resident Evil came in second with $17.7 million (2,528 theaters; $7,004 per theater) and Warner’s Showtime in third with $15 million (2,917 theaters; $5,146 per theater).
