"Body Of Lies" Opens Weak, Mauled By Talking "Chihuahua"

LOS ANGELES — "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" kept audiences on the leash as it retained the top spot at the box office, fetching $17.5 million in its second weekend.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Media By Numbers LLC:

1. "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," Disney, $17,502,077, 3,218 locations, $5,439 average, $52,532,310, two weeks.

2. "Quarantine," Sony Screen Gems, $14,211,321, 2,461 locations, $5,775 average, $14,211,321, one week.

3. "Body of Lies," Warner Bros., $12,884,416, 2,710 locations, $4,754 average, $12,884,416, one week.

4. "Eagle Eye," DreamWorks-Paramount, $10,913,762, 3,614 locations, $3,020 average, $70,409,979, three weeks.

5. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," Sony, $6,420,474, 2,421 locations, $2,652 average, $20,730,708, two weeks.

6. "The Express," Universal, $4,562,675, 2,808 locations, $1,625 average, $4,562,267, one week.

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7. "Nights in Rodanthe," Warner Bros., $4,541,201, 2,575 locations, $1,764 average, $32,297,101, three weeks.

8. "Appaloosa," Warner Bros., $3,321,389, 1,290 locations, $2,575 average, $10,867,693, four weeks.

9. "The Duchess," Paramount Vantage, $3,304,841, 1,207 locations, $2,738 average, $5,603,061, four weeks.

10. "Fireproof," Samuel Goldwyn, $3,140,997, 875 locations, $3,590 average, $16,875,765, three weeks.

11. "City of Ember," Fox, $3,129,473, 2,022 locations, $1,548 average, $3,129,473, one week.

12. "Lakeview Terrace," Sony Screen Gems, $2,654,644, 2,218 locations, $1,197 average, $36,201,729, four weeks.

13. "Religulous," Lionsgate, $2,230,898, 568 locations, $3,928 average, $6,732,631, two weeks.

14. "Burn After Reading," Focus, $2,095,647, 1,406 locations, $1,491 average, $55,177,399, five weeks.

15. "An American Carol," Vivendi Entertainment, $1,395,000, 1,621 locations, $861 average, $5,971,000, two weeks.

16. "Flash of Genius," Universal, $867,780, 1,098 locations, $790 average, $3,744,790, two weeks.

17. "Tyler Perry's the Family That Preys," Lionsgate, $840,767, 539 locations, $1,560 average, $36,405,889, five weeks.

18. "Igor," MGM, $560,410, 1,195 locations, $469 average, $18,073,854, four weeks.

19. "The Dark Knight," Warner Bros., $528,328, 375 locations, $1,409 average, $526,690,914, 13 weeks.

20. "Ghost Town," DreamWorks-Paramount, $502,402, 575 locations, $874 average, $12,500,221, four weeks.

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Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Rogue Pictures are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Classics are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.

Comments

[trendier]

I went to see it on Monday and it was okay. Nothing to write home about really. I guess it's just a kid movie. I did love the dog's wardrobe.

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

Lighten up a bit, people. Believe me, I hate when people see crap, but after this week, I'm not surprised that people would go to see something as innocuous as the Chihuahua movie.

For my part, I rented Viva Knievel, a 70's "so bad it's good" movie starring Evel Knievel as himself. It's one of the worst movies ever made, but it's so cheesy and foolish. I needed something like that this weekend.

Now, onto Berlin Alexanderplatz!

[DogBitez]

Wow. You really did hit rock bottom this week, didn't you? My idea of a "so bad it's good" movie is definitely "Plan 9 From Outer Space". Now THAT'S movie-making at its most atrocious! Infinitely watchable.

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

Viva Knievel is scraping the bottom all right.

I've seen Plan 9 from Outer Space, and it's the best "so bad it's good" movie ever.

Viva Knievel isn't as "good" as Plan 9, but it's still hilarious. Evel can't act (even playing himself), the dialogue is awful, Gene Kelly plays Evel's mechanic (!), and the theme song is hysterical.

[walk0nwalls]

No justice in the world.

[strangerinthenight]

Another blow to Redstone and his Viacom-Paramount divisions. Bad for those movies waiting to be release. Guess Aniston's He Is Just Not Into You, Management and that dog Marley will be shelves until next kingdom come.

Great for Jolie whose pix are fully financed by Sony.

Good for Cruise, and vindication. Redstone losing ground big time.

[Puller58]

Dog of a movie. How quaint.

[rini]

Third is not bad, people. Look at the numbers.

Still, a talking Chihuahua??? I'm sorry Drew, but....my god.

[PDXTransplant]

Hey work is work... They get paid very well for voice overs. I wish I could get into that business.

[NTO08]

Prissy, aren't we?

[DogBitez]

And people wonder why we, as a nation, voted for that boob Bush TWICE. (Not me, I'm innocent). Given a choice between watching something with depth or watching something with a talking Chihuahua (didn't Taco Bell already do this?) the American people will go for empty fluff every time. Which also explains why so many people attend Palin rallies.

[mostimpressive]

+10, spot on

[PaxMundis]

Let's not read too much into this. Body Of Lies has gotten some lousy reviews, and there wasn't a whole lot of buzz. I saw the trailer sandwiched between those for Watchmen and the next Terminator movie, and the lack of response was palpable. Leo just ain't as big a star as he used to be.

[Goldie999]

I wouldn't blame this all on Leo. Aside from Will Smith, there really isn't any Hollywood star that consistently brings them into the theaters. And after having seen "Body of Lies," even Will Smith couldn't bring them in for this.