Friday:

1. MESSENGERS, THE SCREEN GEMS 2,528 6,010,000 2,377 n/a 6,010,000
2. BECAUSE I SAID SO UNIVERSAL 2,526 4,647,000 1,840 n/a 4,647,000
3. EPIC MOVIE 20TH CENTURY FOX 2,840 2,590,000 912 -61% 23,580,000
4. SMOKIN' ACES UNIVERSAL 2,219 2,169,000 977 -56% 20,739,000
5. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 20TH CENTURY FOX 3,003 1,656,000 551 -25% 220,209,000
6. STOMP THE YARD SONY 2,169 1,256,000 579 -40% 53,007,000
7. PAN'S LABYRINTH PICTURE HOUSE 1,082 1,099,000 1,016 -15% 19,071,813
8. PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, THE SONY 2,233 935,000 419 -28% 155,153,000
9. CATCH AND RELEASE SONY 1,622 900,000 555 -66% 10,105,000
10. DREAMGIRLS PARAMOUNT 2,797 115,000 41 -93% 88,791,000

I guess the new trend is to release a crappy horror movie over Super Bowl weekend. Last year was with When a Stranger Calls, also from ScreenGems (Sony).

And the year before that was Screen Gems' Boogeyman (which also happened to be produced by Raimi's Ghost House as well).

Maybe next year it'll be Boogeyman 2, which is currently filming.

1 N The Messengers SGem $14,500,000 - 2,528 - $5,735 $14,500,000 $16 1
2 N Because I Said So Uni. $13,022,000 - 2,526 - $5,155 $13,022,000 - 1
3 1 Epic Movie Fox $8,225,000 -55.8% 2,840 +39 $2,896 $29,369,000 - 2
4 3 Night at the Museum Fox $6,750,000 -29.4% 3,003 -238 $2,247 $225,365,000 - 7
5 2 Smokin' Aces Uni. $6,324,000 -56.8% 2,219 +1 $2,849 $24,955,000 $17 2
6 4 Stomp the Yard SGem $4,200,000 -45.4% 2,169 +54 $1,936 $56,001,000 $13 4
7 6 Dreamgirls P/DW $4,048,000 -40.0% 2,797 +12 $1,447 $92,795,000 - 8
8 8 Pan's Labyrinth PicH $3,663,000 -23.3% 1,082 +259 $3,385 $21,696,000 $19 6
9 7 The Pursuit of Happyness Sony $3,100,000 -37.8% 2,233 -455 $1,388 $157,351,000 $55 8
10 9 The Queen Mira. $2,710,000 -32.5% 1,850 +20 $1,464 $45,522,000 - 19
11 5 Catch and Release Sony $2,700,000 -64.7% 1,622 - $1,664 $12,011,000 $25 2
12 12 The Departed WB $2,325,000 -30.9% 1,453 - $1,600 $128,621,000 $90 18
13 11 Freedom Writers Par. $1,908,000 -45.7% 1,915 -358 $996 $34,197,000 $21 5
14 13 Notes on a Scandal FoxS $1,775,000 -31.8% 682 +41 $2,602 $11,773,000 - 6
15 17 Letters from Iwo Jima WB $1,745,000 -6.6% 720 +305 $2,423 $7,527,000 $19 7
16 14 Babel ParV $1,730,000 -32.4% 1,090 - $1,587 $29,744,000 - 15
17 19 The Last King of Scotland FoxS $1,285,000 -23.3% 528 +27 $2,433 $9,641,000 $6 19
18 15 Children of Men Uni. $1,181,000 -45.9% 829 -444 $1,424 $32,785,000 $76 6
19 10 The Hitcher (2007) Rog. $1,165,000 -67.9% 1,496 -1,340 $778 $15,594,000 - 3
20 20 Charlotte's Web (2006) Par. $909,000 -39.2% 1,058 -287 $859 $80,092,000 $85 8
21 23 Volver SPC $885,000 -22.4% 587 -102 $1,507 $10,226,000 - 14
22 21 Blood Diamond WB $880,000 -28.0% 635 -55 $1,385 $53,967,000 $100 9
- 16 Blood and Chocolate MGM $611,000 -70.5% 1,200 - $509 $3,125,000 - 2

I'm glad to see that the Hitcher remake bombed. Hopefully once the remakes stop making money, they'll slow down the speed at which they're coming out.

Remakes will always be, but with the failure of Hitcher, Black Christmas, and Turistas, I think the R-rated horror film will be even more of a rare thing come next year.

As long as the Saw movies earn $80 million at the box office, I think the genre will still be offering R-rated films. Not every PG-13 "horror" movie is a success.

A well timed thought for this weekend.

Yeah, I bet The Messengers turns out the be the sleeper hit of the Winter! Its #1 opening proves once again that teenagers are stupid.

I sure hope not, I just saw The Hitcher this weekend, and actually enjoyed it(but I have never seen the original). Lets see The hills have eyes 2, Hostel 2, and the next Saw sequel should be out this year, hopefully hard R horror flicks will continue to be around for a very long time.

Yep, saw the teaser for Hills 2 before The Messenger. It was pretty cool

Nice to see Pan's Labyrinth still in the top ten. I wish more people would see this instead of dumb stupid comedy liked Epic Movie. I guess the majority of the public don't care to see foreign film because they don't like to watch movie with subtitles.

Do you really think that Pan's Labyrinth is as accessible as Epic Movie to the majority of moviegoers?

Yes, considering that Epic Movie is only accessible to people without senses of humor.

I just watched a few clips of Epic Movie on youtube, and I was actually shocked by how bad the movie is. I mean, those are the clips that they actually chose to put online, I can't even imagine what they didn't want to show.

The top three movies have a combined 25% at rottentomatoes.