Lion's Gate, which is quickly becoming Hollywood's top producer of cheaply made ultra-violent horror films, grabbed the weekend box office crown with Hostel, which managed to dislodge the mega fantasy films, The Chronicles of Narnia and King Kong.  Lion's Gate, which scored big time with the B-movie budgeted horrorfests Saw and Saw II, made Hostel for a miniscule $4.5 million and skillfully used 'presenter' Quentin Tarantino's street cred with the key young male target demographic to grab the top spot with an estimated $20.1 million weekend take. 

Meanwhile Disney's Narnia declined only 40% while slipping to second place by earning an estimated $15.4 million.  Narnia, which has now earned some $247.5 million in 5 weeks, looks certain to overtake Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire  ($281.2 million in 8 weeks) as the second most profitable domestic release of the year, though the Disney film has little chance of eclipsing the Potter film's year's best worldwide total of $850 million.

Peter Jackson's King Kong fell 49.7% and earned an estimated $12.2 million bringing its domestic cumulative to $192 million, but like Harry Potter the giant ape flick is doing better overseas where it has already earned $272 millon.