Cinematical

Ice Age: The Meltdown demolished the box office competition this weekend, coming in with just over $70 million - a total that gives it the second-biggest non-summer open of all time. While the fact that the film was released on such a massive number of screens (almost 4000, the fifth-highest total ever) certainly contributed to the numbers, the total is nevertheless impressive and, depending on the final totals, could leave it tied with The Incredibles for the-second biggest animation debut. Whew.

Spike Lee's hit Inside Man held onto second place, its total of $15.7 million a dropoff of a not atypical 45% from last week's numbers. Finishing a surprising third was (the awesome) ATL, which made a very respectable $12.5 million on only 1602 screens, the second-lowest exposure of any film in the top ten. The fourth and fifth biggest earners this weekend were the still-strong Failure to Launch ($6.6 million) and V for Vendetta, which drew $6.5 million in its third week of release.

Slither, the weekend's third major debut feature, made a disappointing $3.7 million, despite strong reviews and a very wide open. Lucky for Slither, however, it was released in the same week at Basic Instinct 2, which was such an unmitigated disaster ($3.2 million on about 1500 screens) that no one will ever talk about how badly the movie about the slugs did. The full top 10 is after the jump.

1.     Ice Age: The Meltdown $70.5 million
2.     Inside Man $15.7 million
3.     ATL $12.5 million
4.     Failure to Launch $6.6 million
5.     V for Vendetta $6.5 million
6.     Stay Alive $4.6 million
7.     She's the Man $4.6 million
8.     Slither $3.7 million
9.     The Shaggy Dog $3.5 million
10.     Basic Instinct 2 $3.2 million