#1 "Shutter Island" ($22.2 million)
#2 "Cop Out" ($18.6 million)
#3 "The Crazies" ($16.5 million)
#4 "Avatar" ($14 million)
#5 "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" ($9.8 million)
For the second weekend in a row, "Shutter Island" topped the box office with a respectable $22.2 million intake. Director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio's latest thrilling collaboration has already earned $75 million domestically in two weeks, now just a stone's throw away from making back its production budget of $80 million.
Failing to capture the first-place slot, major newcomers "Cop Out" and "The Crazies" turned their sights on second place instead. Both films entered Saturday morning with a mere $5,000 difference, but it was director Kevin Smith's buddy-cop comedy that ultimately emerged as the silver medalist with $18.6 million, marking the single greatest opening weekend ever for Smith. His previous best was an $11 million weekend debut for "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."
While "Cop Out" finished the weekend in better standing, Overture Films enjoyed a greater return on its investment with "The Crazies," which earned $16.5 million by Sunday's conclusion and only cost $20 million to produce. "Cop Out," in contrast, was filmed on a $30 million budget.
Director James Cameron's "Avatar" continued its record-breaking warpath, becoming the first film in history to break past $700 million at the domestic box office. The $706.9 million tally puts "Avatar" more than $100 million past "Titanic," currently sitting at an all-time second-place record of $600.8 million.
Fox's "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" brought in $9.8 million, just barely out-grossing the $9.5 million earned by "Valentine's Day." Director Garry Marshall's romantic comedy took a tough tumble from last weekend's second-place result to this weekend's sixth-place finish.
The best per-screen average of the weekend belonged to embattled filmmaker Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer" with $20,233 theater-for-theater.
Upcoming Releases
"Avatar" meets its first major 3-D competition in the form of Disney and Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," starring Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway. The crime genre takes a dramatic turn from the comedy of "Cop Out" with "Brooklyn's Finest."
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