Weekend of February 8 - 10

By Franck Tabouring

“Fool’s Gold” took gold at the top of the North American box office this weekend with an estimated $22 million.

The Andy Tennant-directed comedy, which stars Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson as a divorcing couple tracking down an ancient treasure, opened at 3,125 locations Friday and easily dominated the box office despite negative reviews.

New entry “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins” ranked No. 2, earning $17.1 million from ticket sales at 2,386 sites. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee, Universal’s comedy stars Martin Lawrence as a popular talk-show host who returns home for his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.

Last week’s winner “Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour” dropped to No. 3 this weekend, collecting $10.5 million and lifting its domestic total to $53.9 million after a strong two-week run. The 3-D event, which chronicles the highlights of Cyrus’ wildly popular 2007 concert tour, was originally scheduled to hit theaters for one week only, but Walt Disney chose to extend its run due to record ticket sales.

Lionsgate’s horror flick “The Eye” slipped to No. 4, taking home $6.6 million and reaching a cumulative gross of $21.5 million after two weeks in release. Xavier Palud and David Moreau’s remake of the Asian horror classic “Gin Gwai” stars Jessica Alba as a blind violinist who starts seeing ghosts after undergoing a double corneal transplant.

Meanwhile, Jason Reitman’s success comedy “Juno” moves back up to No. 5 with $5.7 million. Fox Searchlight’s film about a pregnant 15-year-old (Ellen Page) lifted its total haul to $117.6 million after a strong 10-week run in theaters.

At No. 6, “27 Dresses” pulled $5.7 million this weekend, raising its domestic total to $65.3 million after four weeks in release. The Anne Fletcher-directed comedy stars Heigl as a passionate bridesmaid who’s asked to arrange her sister’s wedding to the man (Edward Burns) she’s secretly in love with.

Rob Reiner’s drama “The Bucket List” stayed put at No. 7 with a weekend gross of $5.3 million ($75 million total gross), while Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo” dropped to No. 8 with $4.1 million ($36.5 million total).

Two films rounded out the top ten this weekend: Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer’s slapstick comedy and Paul Thomas Anderson’s thriller “There Will Be Blood” each took in $4 million.

Once again, the films with the weakest reviews dominated the box office, while “Vince Vaugh’s Wild West Comedy Show” didn’t even make it into the top 12 spots of the chart. Exiting the top 10 this weekend were Gregory Hoblit’s thriller “Untraceable” and Matt Reeves’ creature-feature “Cloverfield.” While Hoblit’s film only grossed $24.3 million after three weeks in theaters, “Cloverfield” had a much more successful run with a domestic total of $75.9 million.