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Box Office Breakdown: Megamind is Unstoppable

Unstoppable

Denzel Washington and Chris Pine could do nothing but watch Megamind speed past them at the box office.

Despite an early lead for the action film, Unstoppable lost a bit of steam. The movie, which opened to $8.1 million on Friday, slowed to a $22.7 million take and second place-finish by Monday. Of the five films Tony Scott has directed Washington in, this movie – also starring Chris Pine – debuted in the middle of the pack.

Two other wide releases found themselves perched in the Top 10 this weekend. Universal’s sci-fi entry, , dialed up $11.7 million for fourth place. Meanwhile, Morning Glory, starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton, produced $9.2 million ($11.8 million since Wednesday) – enough for fifth place.

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Box Office Breakdown: Megamind Opens Large with $46 Million

Megamind

Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis and Tyler Perry contributed to one of the largest November weekends in box office history.

– starring Ferrell, Tina Fey and Brad Pitt – topped the competition this weekend with a $46 million take. The animated comedy opened bigger than How to Train Your Dragon – another Paramount/Dreamworks collaboration – did in March ($43.7 million), but smaller than Despicable Me ($56.4 million) did in July.

Todd Phillips’ , featuring Galifianakis and Robert Downey Jr., also had an impressive open despite landing into second place. The movie, which grossed $32.7 million, had the largest premiere for any R-rated flick in November. (The movie bested the record set by Borat’s $26.4 million in 2006.) The film, though, fell behind The Hangover’s $45 million open in 2009.

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Box Office Breakdown: Saw Franchise Ends with a Win

Saw 3D

The Saw franchise, which has been churning out annual entries since kicking off in 2004, introduced a new twist to the latest October entry. That visual element, plus a calendar shift, helped Saw 3D take first place over the holiday weekend.

Despite the $22.5 million debut, Saw 3D – the seventh and final film in the series – didn’t exactly end the series with a bloody bang. The horror flick had the fifth-best open in the entire franchise -- and that's including the higher ticket prices. (Only the 2004 original and 2009’s Saw VI – which was pitted directly against Paranormal Activity – did worse.)

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Box Office Breakdown: Paranormal Activity Takes Over Theaters

Paranormal Activity 2

Combine a mysterious baby and a barking dog with a $3 million budget – and what do you get? Horror’s biggest opener to date.

, Paramount’s follow to last year’s surprise hit, scared up a record-breaking $40.7 million over the pre-Halloween weekend. The film not only took first place away from Jackass 3D, it edged past Friday the 13th for the scream title. (That 2009 remake debuted to $40.6 million in February 2009.)

Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood’s , which expanded from a limited release, also made entry into the Top 10. The Matt Damon-starrer settled into fourth place with a $12 million take.

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Box Office Breakdown: Jackass Kicks Competition’s Ass

Although the next Saw film isn’t due until October 29, many theatergoers saw pain inflicted in 3D this past weekend.

The premiere of Jackass 3D, a film based on the former MTV series, has already broken franchise and box office records since debuting three days ago. The documentary, which was produced for $19 million, earned a shocking $50.3 million -- approximately $21 million more than 2006’s Jackass: Number Two (and $28 million more than 2002’s Jackass: The Movie).

Paramount’s entry also bested previous October openers. Up until recently, Scary Movie 3’s $48.1 million from 2003 had been the figure to beat.

Meanwhile, Red generated what could have been first-place sized numbers on any other weekend. The action film starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren rang up $21.8 million -- enough for second place.

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Box Office Breakdown: Very Small Take for Wes Craven

My Soul to Take

Neither Wes Craven’s name nor 3-D ticket prices could help Universal this weekend.

, which cost an estimated $25 million to produce, earned a scary $6.8 million over the past three days. (That’s a figure that includes ticket sales from 3-D venues.) The movie, which debuted in sixth place, was just one of several horror-ific disappointments this week. Two-week-old Case 39 fell to ninth place while Let Me In dropped completely out of the Top 10.

Romantic comedy raised $14.5 million, about $1 million shy of first place. (The Social Network was tops for the second time in a row.) Despite heavy promotion, Life was Katherine Heigl’s smallest debut since her pre-Knocked Up days.

, the weekend’s other new wide release, galloped into third place with $12.7 million. Seabiscuit, in comparison, premiered to $20.9 million in 2003.

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Box Office Breakdown: Social Network Liked by Audiences

The Social Network

Theatergoers took time away from their personal Facebook accounts this weekend to enjoy some actual entertainment this weekend.

—David Fincher’s film about the creation of that social media site—raised enough friends over the last three days to land the biopic in first place. Network’s $22.4 million outing also gave screenwriter Aaron Sorkin his best opening to date.

’s long-awaited debut barely went noticed. The Renee Zellweger/Bradley Cooper movie, which had been waiting for a release date for over two years, was produced for an estimated $27 million. Unfortunately, it only earned back $5.4 million of that from domestic audiences.

Meanwhile, also struggled to find a warm welcome. The vampire thriller – a remake of Sweden’s Let the Right One In—took in only $5.1 million, enough for an 8th place finish.

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Box Office Breakdown: Wall Street Rises to a Win

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Twenty-three years after we were first introduced to Gordon Gekko, Michael Douglas and Oliver Stone have both seen their stock go up. , which earned $19 million over the past three days, gave the Oscar-winning actor his first #1 film since 2001’s Don’t Say a Word and Stone his best debut to date. (That total is, of course, considered chump change to Shia LaBeouf.)

The weekend didn’t look quite so rosy for . Although the Zack Snyder-directed adaptation landed in second place, the movie only grossed $16.1 million. (Keep in mind that the movie cost $79 million to produce.)

Meanwhile, Disney proved Betty White’s mere presence doesn’t necessarily mean comedy gold. You Again – also starring Kristen Bell and Sigourney Weaver – debuted in fifth place with $10.6 million. (Somehow I doubt this will help Bell’s chances of ever getting a Veronica Mars movie off the ground.)

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Box Office Breakdown: The Town Takes the Crown

The Town

, Ben Affleck’s second directorial feature, surprised analysts this weekend with a win at the box office. The film, which far surpassed Gone Baby Gone’s $5.5 million debut in 2007, earned $23.8 million—a September-best for Warner Bros. The drama, co-starring Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner, also gave actor Affleck his first #1 film—outside of He’s Just Not that Into You—since Daredevil.

Although many had topping the charts, the film came in a very respectable second place. The Emma Stone-starrer – which only cost $8 million to produce – generated good reviews and a $17.7 million take.

The weekend’s other two new wide releases also landed in the Top 5. The PG-13 horror film raised $12.3 million while Alpha and Omega, a more family-friendly entry, rang up $9.1 million in ticket sales.

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Box Office Breakdown: Evil Takes Up Residence at Number One

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Who says the third time’s the charm?

—the fourth movie in that sci-fi series—topped the box office this weekend with franchise-breaking numbers. The movie, which was offered in 3D, had the best Evil debut to date. (Yes - higher ticket prices did play into this.) Afterlife‘s $26.7 million take surpassed the bar set by Resident Evil: Extinction in 2007. (That outing opened to $23.7 million.)

Since Resident was the only new wide release, the other notable events occurred outside the Top Ten. , starring Katie Holmes and Josh Duhamel, opened in limited release with a $45,527 debut. More importantly, the movie averaged $22,764 per theater—the best number for all films over the weekend. In comparison, I’m Still Here—featuring a disheveled Joaquin Phoenix—only had a $5,087 per screen average.

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