Paramount's 'killer Bs,' Beowulf and Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie, topped the weekend box office marking the first time in over three years that animated films held the top two spots.  Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, based on a screenplay by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, earned an estimated $28.1 million by averaging a solid $8,912 per location.  A few old fogies were put off by the motion capture animation, but most critics gave Beowulf good reviews (71% positive on Rotten Tomatoes). 

The audience for the film was over 60% male and evenly split between those over and under 25. 

Twenty percent of the locations showing the film did so in 3-D and the 3-D showings accounted for 28% of the box office.  As digital projection spreads, 3-D movies will become more common and more popular.

Paramount is hoping that Beowulf can capture a significant portion of the largely male audience that made 300 such a success earlier this year.  It should be interesting to see if the film has 'legs' or if it is limited by the 'creepiness' factor of its realistic animation (something that is unlikely to turn off young viewers used to similar animation in videogames).  If Beowulf continues to do well (and it actually faces unusually weak competition over the next two weeks), it will be good news for retailers since there is (or will be) plenty of tie-in merchandise including an adaptation of the film from IDW (see 'IDW to Adapt Beowulf Movie'), an Art of Beowulf volume from Chronicle Books (see 'Chronicle Books Fall 2007 List'), a board game from Fantasy Flight (see 'Beowulf: The Movie Board Game'), and action figures from McFarlane Toys (see 'McFarlane Toys Gets Beowulf License').

While Beowulf more or less met expectations, the total gross of the top ten films was only $92 million, the lowest total in nine years for the weekend before Thanksgiving.

30 Days of Night earned just under a million dollars and looks like it will finish its domestic run just north of the $40 million mark.  The better known Saw IV looks like it will end up with a total domestic cumulative of around $65 million.