Box Office: 'Nightmare on Elm Street' wins race

Samuel Bayer's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" isn't exactly a winner in terms of quality, but the Warner Bros. remake of the horror classic slashed its competition at the North American box office this weekend with a solid $32.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"Elm Street" debuted at 3,332 locations and scored an average of $9,665 per theater. The film stars Jackie Earle Haley as the famous horror icon Freddy Krueger, who sets out to kill youngsters in their sleep. The film lacks suspense and innovation, but its quick success prompted Warner to consider a sequel already.

This week's other wide release, "Furry Vengeance," tanked at the box office after finishing fifth with only $6.5 million. The Brendan Fraser comedy is a terribly embarrassing mess, and I think it got what it deserved. The story follows a developer entering a war with a bunch of angry forest animals.

At No. 2, "How to Train Your Dragon" picked up $10.8 million, reaching a total gross of $192.3 million. Although the film is now finally losing some of its momentum at the top of the box office chart, it is expected to cross the $200 million mark next week. The 3D-animated adventure has had quite the solid run.

Staying put in third place with $7.6 million this weekend was Shawn Levy's comedy "Date Night," which lifted its total gross to $73.6 million. Following in fourth place with $7.2 million was Jennifer Lopez's new comedy "The Back-up Plan," which brought its cumulative gross to $22.9 million.

Meanwhile, Sylvain White's "The Losers" dropped to No. 6, earning $6 million for a total haul of $18.1 million. "Clash of the Titans" followed in seventh place, generating $5.9 million for the weekend for a cume of $154 million. Lionsgate's "Kick-Ass" bagged $4.4 million at No. 8, reaching a total gross of $42.1 million.

At the bottom of the top 10, "Death at A Funeral" finished ninth on the weekend with a three-day gross of $4 million and a domestic total of $34.7 million. Disney's documentary "Oceans" sunk to No. 10, taking home $2.6 million for a cume of $13.5 million.

The North American box office will explode next weekend, when "Iron Man 2" will kill its competition and bring in more than $100 million in less than three days. I'm rooting for $150 million, but we'll see. Also opening next week is "Babies," which I'm sure will find a solid audience as well.

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