As expected, the Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy "Just Like Heaven" handily snagged the #1 spot at the weekend box office, grossing an estimated $16.5 million from 3,500 theaters. Based on the early returns from Ms. Witherspoon’s last vehicle, "Sweet Home Alabama," the tally is seen as somewhat of a disappointment, but hey, first place is still first place.
Slidiing to second place in its sophomore weekend was the occult drama "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," which added about $15 million to its $52 million total. Debuting in third place was Nicolas Cage‘s action flick "Lord of War," which commanded $9.2 million from 2,800 theaters.
Fourth place went to the sleeper hit "The 40 Year-Old Virgin," which added almost $6 million to its bank, giving it a total of just over $90 million. Rogue Pictures’ "Cry Wolf" broke into the top five with a $4.5 million tally from nearly 1,800 theaters. (And considering the thing cost just over a million bucks to make, 5th place ain’t half bad.)
The only other "semi-wide" release this past weekend was Dimension’s horror flick "Venom," which pulled in a rather paltry $501,000 from just under 500 theaters.
Tim Burton‘s "Corpse Bride" debuted on five screens and made about $411,000 on each of ’em, which means next weekend’s wide release should bring in some copious cash indeed. Also opening wide on Friday are Jodie Foster‘s "Flightplan" thriller, and Fox Searchlight’s "Roll Bounce."
As always, you’re invited to get a closer look at the weekend numbers by visiting the Rotten Tomatoes Box Office Page.
