HOLLYWOOD - Coach Carter slammed dunk the box office competition over the Martin Luther King weekend.The sports drama, based on the real-life story of Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson), a high school basketball coach who benched his players for bad grades, debuted in the top spot with a respectable $23.6 million, pushing reigning champ Meet the Fockers and its $19 million take down to second place.
Coach Carter becomes the second best Martin Luther King weekend opener, behind Along Came Polly, which opened last year with $27.7 million.
Other newcomers to the top 10 list included the family-fun Racing Stripes, which premiered in the third spot with $14 million and the warm comedy In Good Company, which came in fourth place in an expanded release, taking in $13 million. Jennifer Garner's comic-book actioner Elektra, however, failed to generate the big bucks, rounding out the top five with a mere $12.5 million.
This weekend, the Top 12 films grossed an estimated $115.7 million, up 18.44 percent from last weekend's $97.7 million take and up 23.06 percent from last year's draw of $94 million.
The top three films at the box office this time last year were: Universal Pictures' PG-13 rated Along Came Polly, which opened at No. 1 with $27.7 million in 2,984 theaters, averaging $9,290 per theater; New Line's PG-13 rated The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, dropped to second place in its fifth week with $10.2 million in 3,003 theaters, averaging $3,403 per theater; and Sony Pictures PG-13 rated Big Fish, which dropped to third place in its second week with $10.3 million in 2,514 theaters, averaging $4,100 per theater.
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES:
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: Coach Carter (Paramount Pictures, PG-13)
• Gross: $23.6 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,524
• Per-theater average: $9,350
No. 2: Meet the Fockers (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $19 million (-33%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 3,554 (+27)
• Per-theater average: $4,405
• Cume to date: $230.8 million
No. 3: Racing Stripes (Warner Bros., PG)
• Gross: $14 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,185
• Per-theater average: $4,405
No. 4: In Good Company (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $13.9 million
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 1,566 (+1,563 in expanded release)
• Per-theater average: $8,876
• Cume to date: $14.4 million
No. 5: Elektra (20th Century Fox, PG-13)
• Gross: $12.5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,204
• Per-theater average: $3,901
No. 6: White Noise (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $12.2 million (-49%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,279 (+18)
• Per-theater average: $5,353
• Cume to date: $41.2 million
No. 7: The Aviator (Miramax, PG-13)
• Gross: $4.7 million (-36%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 1,956 (+89)
• Per-theater average: $2,441
• Cume to date: $49.9 million
No. 8: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Paramount, PG)
• Gross: $3.9 million (-47%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 2,540 (-803)
• Per-theater average: $1,561
• Cume to date: $111 million
No. 9: Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (Warner Bros., PG-13)
• Gross: $3.5 million (+4%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 907 (+285)
• Per-theater average: $3,914
• Cume to date: $26.4 million
No. 10: Ocean's Twelve (Warner Bros., PG-13)
• Gross: $2.8 million (-45%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 2,105 (-905)
• Per-theater average: $1,375
• Cume to date: $119.8 million