Movie

Heading into the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Kevin James' comedy 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' debuts atop the North American box office for the three-day weekend estimates.

• Jan 19, 2009

AceShowbiz - "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" has presented an impressive opening weekend at the North American box office. Knocking down Clint Eastwood's drama "Gran Torino" from the #1 position and exceeding expectations, the Kevin James' PG-rated comedy pulled in $31.8 million over the three-day weekend.

Having an even appeal to basically everybody, the movie about a bumbling security guard who takes on a gang of thieves were watched by those under and over the age 25 with the percentage of 56|percent| to those under 25 and 44|percent| to those over 25. Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony, also claimed that the movie is expected to reach $40 million over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by the end of Monday, January 19.

"We had a lot of screenings as well as tracking that was good on it. We were hopeful we could do in the range of $25 million for four days and that would have been a terrific result for us. But now it looks like we're going to do $40 million for four days, and that is just, like, a 'wow' number," Bruer told The Associated Press on Sunday, January 18. "It totally speaks to just how much audiences love Kevin James, No. 1, and how hard he worked to promote this film."

Slipping to second place was "Gran Torino". After sitting comfortably atop the box office last weekend, the drama movie experienced a 25.5|percent| drop in sales, grossing nearly $22 million and collecting so far $73 million in total. Apart from "Gran Torino", the rest of the top five were dominated by newcomers, "My Bloody Valentine 3-D", "Notorious" and "Hotel for Dogs".

Patrick Lussier's horror thriller remake "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" debuted third, raking in $21.2 million, while George Tillman Jr.'s biopic drama about life of rapper Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G., "Notorious", followed in fourth place with $20.5 million bow. Rounding up the top five was Emma Roberts-starrer family comedy "Hotel for Dogs" which opened with $17 million over the three-day weekend.

Top Ten Movies at Weekend Box Office for January 16 - 18:

1. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" - $31.8 million
2. "Gran Torino" - $22 million
3. "My Bloody Valentine 3-D" - $21.2 million
4. "Notorious" - $20.5 million
5. "Hotel for Dogs" - $17 million
6. "Bride Wars" - $11.7 million
7. "The Unborn" - $9.3 million
8. "Defiance" - $8.9 million
9. "Marley & Me" - $6.1 million
10. "Slumdog Millionaire" - $5.8 million