'Gran Torino' motors to No. 1 at the box office

Brandon Gray, publisher of online movie publication and reporting service BoxOfficeMojo.com, added, "This was a very solid weekend driven by the top three movies, which had a complementary mix of genres and demographics."

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claudia.eller@latimes.com

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Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Weeks (studio) (millions) (millions)

1 Gran Torino (Warner Bros.) $29 $40. 1 5

2 Bride Wars (Fox) 21.5 21.5 1

3 The Unborn(Universal/Rogue) 21.1 21.1 1

4 Marley & Me (Fox) 11.4 123.7 3

5 The Curious Case of Benjamin 9.5 94.3 3 Button (Paramount)

6 Bedtime Stories (Disney) 8.6 97.2 3

7 Valkyrie(United Artists/MGM) 6.7 71.5 3

8 Yes Man(Warner Bros.) 6.2 89.4 4

9 Not Easily Broken(Sony/TriStar) 5.6 5.6 1

10 Seven Pounds (Sony/Columbia) 3.9 66.8 4 *--*

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Industry totals

*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2008 (in millions) from 2008 $148 +14.2% $395.2 +24.9% *--*

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Source: Media by Numbers

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Los Angeles Times