The Box-Office Top Five
#1 "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" ($29 million)
#2 "Eagle Eye" ($17.7 million)
#3 "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" ($12 million)
#4 "Nights in Rodanthe" ($7.4 million)
#5 "Appaloosa" ($5 million)
Starring the voice talents of Drew Barrymore, George Lopez and Andy Garcia, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" won the weekend box office by a hefty margin, proving that we should all be concerned about the fate of the world. The film that inspired its own star to call it "the most annoying [thing] you've ever witnessed in your life," made $29 million. Cue the famine, pestilence, etc.
In second place, "Eagle Eye" fell just short of 40 percent in its second weekend. The D.J. Caruso-directed, Shia LaBeouf-starring thriller made $17.7 million in frame number two, bringing its overall gross to $54.6 million.
Meanwhile, is Michael Cera a star? Points in his favor: He was in two $100 million-plus grossers last year, "Superbad" and "Juno." Points against: Nobody really went to see either of those movies for him. Point that doesn't really prove anything one way or the other: His "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" came in third place with $12 million. Bonus point: He likes rabbits.
Richard Gere and Diane Lane's "Nights in Rodanthe" made $7.4 million in fourth place, while Ed Harris' "Appaloosa" rounded out the top five with $5 million.
All the real fun, though, was at the bottom of the top 10, where David Zucker's "An American Carol" made $3.8 million to come in ninth place, narrowly beating out Bill Maher's "Religulous" which made $3.5 million for 10th. Will the film that will ultimately have the highest gross please step forward? Not so fast, Mr. Zucker! ("Surely, you can't be serious?" "I am, and don't call me Shirley.") Your right-wing comedy won the opening-week battle, but it will almost certainly lose the war. The total for "Carol" was due, in part, to the fact that it opened in 1,600 theaters. "Religulous," by comparison, opened in just 500 theaters, giving it a much heftier per-screen average. That bodes well for the potential staying power of Maher's religion-skewering documentary.
Among other new releases, "Blindness" and "Flash of Genius" both opened outside of the top 10. Despite Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst's journalistic skills, "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" barely made it into the top 20.
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