Source:ERCBoxOffice.com, Edward Douglas

October 13, 2008

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

Four new movies opened in wide release this weekend but despite a plethora of starpower and strong genres, nothing was able to dethrone Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which remained on top with an estimated $17.5 million to bring its total to $52.4 million.

The biggest surprise of the weekend might have been the R-rated horror movie Quarantine (Screen Gems) winning the weekend over Ridley Scott's latest Body of Lies, despite its dual starpower in Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. The Screen Gems horror movie brought in an estimated $14.2 million in 2,461 theaters, averaging $5,700 per site, while Scott's political thriller ended up with $13.1 million in 250 more theaters.

DreamWorks' Eagle Eye, starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan, dropped 38% to fourth place, amassing $11 million in its third weekend to cross the $70 million mark.

The teen romantic comedy Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Screen Gems), starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings, dropped two places to #5 with $6.5 million in its second weekend, bringing its own total to $21 million.

Despite good reviews and the widest release of the new movies, Universal's football drama The Express, starring Rob Brown and Dennis Quaid, opened in sixth place with just $4.7 million in its 2,800 theaters, averaging less than $1,700 per site.

In seventh place, the romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe (Warner Bros.), reuniting Richard Gere and Diane Lane, made $4.6 million this weekend to bring its total to $32.4 million.

The Ed Harris-directed western Appaloosa (New Line/WB) dropped just 34% in its second weekend in wide release taking 8th place with $3.3 million with a running total of $11 million.

After three weeks in limited release, the Keira Knightley period piece The Duchess (Paramount Vantage) expanded nationwide into 1,200 theaters, ending up neck and neck with Appaloosa, after opening in the same September weekend. By comparison, the period drama, co-starring Ralph Fiennes and Dominic Cooper, has only grossed $5.6 million.

Rounding out the Top 10, Fox Walden's latest, the fantasy-adventure City of Ember, starring Saorsie Ronan, Bill Murray and Tim Robbins, bombed with just $3.2 million in over 2,000 theaters, doing even worse than Fox Walden's October '07 offering The Seeker.

The Top 10 grossed an estimated $81.5 million over the weekend, roughly a million more than the same weekend last year.

In limited release, Guy Ritchie's fifth movie RocknRolla opened in seven theaters in New York, L.A. and Toronto, taking in $141 thousand, while fellow Brit Mike Leigh's latest Happy-Go-Lucky grossed $80 thousand in its first weekend in three fewer theaters.

Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.