A bad cop bullied his way to the top of the weekend box office as a menacing Samuel L. Jackson in Sony Pictures' "Lakeview Terrace" overcame Lionsgate's "My Best Friend's Girl."
Jackson, playing an LAPD officer who harasses an interracial couple who move in next door, took in an estimated $15.6 million across 2,464 screens.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, September 24, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 51 words Type of Material: Correction
Box office: An article in Business on Monday said the movie "Lakeview Terrace" was produced by Lionsgate branch Screen Gems and was Sony Pictures' second opening this year at No. 1. Screen Gems is a unit of Sony, and the movie was Sony's fifth opening this year in the top spot.
Produced for a modest $20 million by Lionsgate branch Screen Gems and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment, the PG-13 thriller is Sony's second opening this year at No. 1.
But across the board, ticket sales were down again.
Last weekend was the first time box-office grosses improved after seven straight weeks of slipping sales. Year-to-date revenue, at $6.99 billion, has fallen from last year's $7.04 billion.
Sony's "Resident Evil: Extinction," the box-office winner this time last year, attracted $23.7 million in sales. Attendance has dived 4.6% compared with 2007.
The typical lull between the summer and the holidays usually is caused by viewers getting distracted by a new TV season, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers, a box-office tracking firm.
"This weekend is a pretty solid follow-up, but we came a little short again," he said. "We're trying to get some traction. The fall movie season is not known as a huge boom time at the box office."
"My Best Friend's Girl" had been pegged as the weekend's other major film but was scorched out of second place by the strong second-week performance of the Coen brothers' R-rated "Burn After Reading."
The dark spy comedy from Focus Features, about two gym employees who stumble on the memoir of an ousted CIA official, made an estimated $11.3 million in 2,657 theaters.
The film had a sexy advantage with Brad Pitt and George Clooney in lead roles, and its cumulative $36.4-million draw far exceeded the studio's expectations.
"Word of mouth from the first weekend worked on it, and the country has really fallen in love with this film," said Jack Foley, distribution head for Focus Features. "It just established the momentum further."
Meanwhile, "My Best Friend's Girl" flopped with audiences, who gave it an estimated $8.3-million opening and a scathing 7% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, extending star Dane Cook's streak of poorly reviewed films.
Mostly young women went to see Cook as a "rebound specialist" who is hired to chase women back to the men they recently dumped. But he falls for his buddy's former girlfriend, played by Kate Hudson.
