Weekend Estimates: Burn After Reading Leads Four Wide Releases

September 14, 2008

The Coen Brothers claimed top spot at the box office this weekend as Burn After Reading led four wide releases at the top of the chart. The comedy thriller earned a solid $19.4 million, according to Focus' estimate, which put it safely ahead of Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, which scored an estimated $18.02 million. Righteous Kill also performed decently, with $16.5 million, while The Women was softer with $10.1 million.

This weekend also saw a couple of statistical anomalies. This is the first time since February 10, 2006 that four openers have occupied the top four spots on the chart, and only the second time in the past twenty years. The only previous occurrence in our archive is the weekend of September 18, 1987.

The other unusual event is Bangkok Dangerous slipping from first to eighth place. That's the third biggest drop from first place in history. The record is held by The Passion of the Christ, which tumbled from first to tenth the weekend after Easter, 2004. The record drop for a movie in its second weekend in release is from first to ninth, achieved by The Crow: City of Angels in September, 1996.

- Weekend Estimates

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Righteous Kill, The Family That Preys, The Women, Chu Chu and the Philly Flash