Kevin James, who had already made the successful transition from the small screen in supporting roles in Hitch and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, scored the #1 movie of the weekend with the comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which earned an estimated $33.8 million in its debut frame.  With only a 26% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Paul Blart had the lowest level of critical support of any of the four films that bowed this weekend, but the critics’ opinions mean even less in the comedies aimed at the young male audience than they do with action films.  56% of the audience for the PG-rated Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which posted the third best January opening ever, was under 25.  With a cost of just about $26 million, it appears that Paul Blart: Mall Cop will be a very lucrative release for Sony.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): January 16-18, 2009

Rank	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./Screen
1	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	$33,800,000	3,144	$10,751
2	Gran Torino	$22,235,000	2,972	$7,481
3	My Bloody Valentine 3-D	$21,900,000	2,534	$8,642
4	Notorious	$21,500,000	1,638	$13,126
5	Hotel for Dogs	$17,707,000	3,271	$5,413
6	Bride Wars	$11,750,000	3,228	$3,640
7	The Unborn	$9,849,000	2,359	$4,175
8	Defiance	$9,206,000	1,789	$5,146
9	Marley and Me	$6,325,000	2,952	$2,143
10	Slumdog Millionaire	$5,900,000	582	$10,137

The only holdover in the top five was Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino, last week’s top film, which dropped only 24.6% while earning an estimated $22.2 million and finishing in second place.  The next three spots were taken by new films.  Horror film My Bloody Valentine 3D finished in a virtual tie at $21 million with Notorious, a biopic based on the life of the murdered rapper Notorious. B.I.G.  In fifth place with an estimated take of $17million was Hotel for Dogs, which was produced by Nickelodeon and based on Lois Duncan’s Y.A. novel.  The four strong newcomers helped pushed the weekend total some 28% over the same frame last year as Hollywood continues its strong performance in 2009. 

 

My Bloody Valentine 3D is actually a very important film for Hollywood.  Appearing on more than 1,000 screens in 3D (41% of its total screens), the widest distribution ever for a 3D film using the new digital 3D process, My Bloody Valentine 3D is the harbinger of a wave of 3D films to come.  Atypically for a horror film, My Blood Valentine 3D scored the highest rating of any film debuting this weekend (71% positive on Rotten Tomatoes). The Lionsgate release performed slightly better than expected, but it has hardly vindicated Tinseltown’s gamble on the 3D format.  Still with David Goyer’s The Unborn’s $19 million debut last weekend and My Bloody Valentine 3D’s $21 million bow, 2009 has proved to be, at least so far, a good year for horror movies.

 

The Golden Globes provided a nice bounce for Slumdog Millionaire (up 56%), The Wrestler, which more than doubled its number of theaters and boosted its take by 106%, and Revolutionary Road (up 22.2%), all of which garnered major awards (see “Heath Ledger Wins Golden Globe”).  Put a fork in Frank Miller’s The Spirit, which declined 89.3% and fell to 35th during its fourth weekend while earning just $60,000.