Beverly Hills Chihuahua came out on top on another weekend where new releases failed to gain significant traction. Disney's family movie earned an estimated $17.5 million, a fall of 40% from its opening, and passed $50 million after two weekends in theaters. The big surprise of the weekend was Quarantine, which won the day on Friday and finished with an estimated $14.2 million. Body of Lies was a big disappointment, earning just $13.1 million to finish 3rd. That, however, was good compared to the weekend's other openers.

Overall, the weekend looks like it will beat last year by about 6%. Given the current state of the economy, that's an encouraging sign (as is impressive opening sales numbers for Iron Man on DVD and Blu-ray). Growth is being driven more by the number of new releases than the strong performance of any individual movie -- whether that's good or bad probably depends on one's perspective. Certainly, executives at Universal and Fox won't be feeling happy today. U's inspirational sports movie, The Express mustered only $4.7 million over its opening weekend, while Fox's City of Ember turned in just $3.2 million, and may find itself outside the top ten once full figures are published.

This week's wide expansion, The Duchess fared a little better, earning an estimated $3.3 million. A per theater average of $2,750 suggests that it won't expand much further, however.

Date posted: 2008-10-12