NOTORIOUS - MALL COP EARNS AN ARRESTING $39.2 MILLION

MALL COP EARNS AN ARRESTING $39.2 MILLION

Record crowds may have gathered on Washington D.C.'s Mall this week, but millions more packed theaters featuring a mall of a different sort -- the one in Sony's Paul Blart Mall Cop . The movie, which cost just $26 million to produce, earned $39.2 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and helped to push the box office to a new record for the holiday. Overall, ticket sales were up nearly percent over the same weekend a year ago. Three other new films also drew bigger-than-predicted crowds. Most surprising was the $24.1-million take for My Bloody Valentine 3-D. Analysts had predicted that it would earn half that amount, but they perhaps did not reckon with the apparent willingness of moviegoers to pay premium prices to watch the movie in 3-D. About 80 percent of its gross came from the 1,033 theaters (out of 2,534) that showed it in 3-D. The biopic Notorious , about murdered rap star Notorious B.I.G., earned nearly as much in just 1,638 theaters -- $23.4 million. And the family film Hotel for Dogs checked in with an equally surprising $22.9 million. Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino , which topped the box-office list last weekend, came in second this weekend with $25.6 million, down just 24 percent from the previous week. And, after adding more awards and award nominations to its heap, Slumdog Millionaire earned $7 million, 55 percent above last weekend, on just 582 screens.

The top ten films over the three-day weekend/four-day MLK holiday, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date) 1. Paul Blart Mall Cop, Sony/Columbia , $31,832,636/$39,234,238, 1 Wk. ($39,234,238); 2. Gran Torino, Warner Bros., $21,979,069/$25,606,399, 6 Wks. ($76,603,810); 3. My Bloody Valentine 3-D, Lionsgate, $21,241,456/$24,103,962, 1 Wk. ($24,103,962); 4. Notorious, Fox Searchlight, $20,497,596/$23,393,472, 1 Wk. ($23,393,472); 5. Hotel For Dogs , Paramount, $17,012,212/$22865512, 1 Wk. ($22,865,51); 6. Bride Wars, Fox , $11,651,553/$13,878,727, 2 Wks. ($39,705,852); 7. The Unborn , Universal, $9,341,985/$10,545,075, 2 Wks. ($33,784,230); 8. Defiance, Paramount Vantage, $8,911,827/$10,510,082, 3 Wks. ($10,850,710); 9. Marley & Me , Fox, $6,138,859/$7,514,652, 4 Wks. ($13,392,3935); 10. Slumdog Millionaire , Fox Searchlight, $5,849,157/$7,021,727, 10 Wks. ($43,858,932).

21/01/2009