Box Office - Coen Brothers 'Burn' the Competition

Congratulations to Joel and Ethan Coen, who proved this weekend that their movies don't have to open in New York and Los Angeles, build positive word of mouth, and slowly open across the country. This weekend, in wide release, the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading was the number one movie in the country, which may not have been the biggest surprise, although its near-$20 million debut was a few million more than a lot of predictions. Our pick to take the top spot, Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, opened in second place, followed by Righteous Kill and The Women, according to weekend estimates released by Box Office Mojo. In just three days, Burn After Reading has already outperformed the brothers' The Big Lebowski, and will surpass the domestic grosses of both Raising Arizona and Fargo within the next four or five days at the max. It may not be their biggest hit ever, because last year's No Country for Old Men made about $80 million, but it has a good shot at being only their second film to break $50 million. Tyler Perry's new drama did outperform Burn After Reading on the per-screen basis, but played in fewer theaters overall, which, along with the strong performance of Burn, kept Family from vaulting to number one. Righteous Kill, which was heavily advertising its two leads, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, had a much lower per-screen average than either of the top two films. Usually, a new release that hits over 3,000 theaters has a good shot to take number one, especially against movies that aren't in that many theaters. Currently, Righteous Kill is in the most theaters of any movie in the country, but it wasn't good enough. Oddly, the weekend's biggest hit over the long haul may be fourth-place finisher The Women. Despite a huge cast, the film only cost $16 million and it will be in the black before next weekend even gets here. If the film can attract the female audiences it is clearly designed for, it might be able to double its budget or more, which probably won't be the case for either Righteous Kill or Burn After Reading. The Top Five: 1 - Burn After Reading ($19.4 million)
2 - The Family That Preys ($18 million)
3 - Righteous Kill ($16.5 million)
4 - The Women ($10 million)
5 - The House Bunny ($4.3 million)