The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Be sure to check back on Monday for final figures based on actual box office.
Going into the weekend, two new movies were vying for $40 million opening, mirroring last year when George Miller's Happy Feet took on the James Bond relaunch Casino Royale. This weekend, director Ridley Scott's R-rated crime drama American Gangster (Universal) proved that putting two bonafide box office stars into a movie with a strong premise can get a lot of people into theatres, and Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe helped American Gangster win the weekend over DreamWorks' animated Bee Movie from the mind of Jerry Seinfeld, which had to settle for second place despite opening in 900 more theatres.
After an impressive opening day of nearly $16 million, American Gangster grossed an estimated $46.3 million over the weekend, averaging more than $15,000 per theatre, while Bee Movie didn't quite make its projected $40 million, instead averaging less than $10,000 in 3,928 theatres to gross $39.1 million its opening weekend. American Gangster becomes the biggest opening movie for both Washington and Crowe, as well as the second highest opening movie for Scott after the 2001 Silence of the Lambs sequel, Hannibal.
After a strong opening weekend, Lionsgate's fourth installment in the horror franchise Saw IV crashed down 65% in its second weekend, adding another $11 million to its cumulative gross of $51 million to make it the third Lionsgate movie in the last two months to gross $50 million.
Dropping to #4, the Steve Carell romantic comedy Dan in Real Life (Touchstone) grossed $8.1 million in its second weekend, dropping just 31% from its opening weekend, the smallest drop for any movie in the Top 10. It has grossed just under $23 million in ten days.
The graphic novel inspired vampire thriller 30 Days of Night (Sony) dropped to 5th place with $4 million and a total gross of $34 million after three weeks, compared to its production budget of $30 million.
The Disney family comedy The Game Plan, starring The Rock, continues its strong run despite the opening of Bee Movie, grossing $3.8 million and dropping out of the Top 5 for the first time in six weeks. It has grossed $81.9 million to date.
The John Cusack drama Martian Child (New Line) opened in 7th place with a disappointing $3.6 million in 2,020 theatres, followed by Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.) starring George Clooney, which dropped to #8 with $2.9 million, having grossed $33 million to date.
After four weeks in theatres, Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? (Lionsgate) has grossed $51.2 million, adding another $2.7 million this weekend after suffering another 51% drop.
Opening in limited release, the Don Cheadle produced doc Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (THINKFilm) added 41 theatres in select cities and added another $400 thousand to its solid opening weekend take.
The Top 10 grossed an estimated $124 million, an increase of 15% over the same weekend last year when Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy Borat topped the box office with $26.4 million in just 837 theatres.
