Friday marked a great start at the box office for Raja Gosnell’s family flick “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” which took the No. 1 spot with $7.8 million in ticket sales.

Last week’s champ “Eagle Eye” slipped to second place but still went strong, pulling in $5.5 million. D.J Caruso’s Shia LaBeouf action vehicle reached a domestic total of $42.4 million.

Debuting in third place with $4.4 million was Peter Sollett’s “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” a romance in which Michael Cera and Kat Dennings spend a turbulent night together in New York City.

Ed Harris’ western “Appaloosa” expanded over the weekend, climbing all the way to No. 5 with $1.5 million. The film made slightly less than George C. Wolfe’s “Nights in Rodanthe,” which tool home $2.4 million in fourth place.

Four the other three wide releases, it didn’t look that well Friday. “Blindness” ranked 11th with $750,000, while “Flash of Genius” only collected $720,000 at No. 12. The biggest disappointment was Simon Pegg’s new comedy “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People,” which picked up $460,000.

Even Bill Maher’s “Religulous” performed better at only 502 locations, earning $1.1 million in tenth place.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)