Weekend Box Office: 'Eagle Eye' Relieves the Boredom

Not a lot of people liked Eagle Eye (I thought it wasn't bad, myself), but at least it broke up the box office monotony a bit. Its $29.2 million finish is the highest weekend gross for any movie since the first weekend in August (The Dark Knight's third week at the top). A combination of strong marketing and Shia LaBeouf's draw probably did the trick for the film, which had a slew of bad reviews to overcome.

The Nicholas Sparks weeper Nights in Rodanthe took in $13.6 million for second place. That is actually almost precisely in line with Sparks' hit The Notebook, but that film hung around for weeks back in 2004, buoeyed by strong word-of-mouth. That seems unlikely for the more soap opera-ish Rodanthe.

Sneaking its way to fourth place on just over 800 screens is a movie called Fireproof, which you may not have run across unless you're a regular churchgoer. (We literally have not mentioned it here on Cinematical.) The Christian-themed movie starring Kirk Cameron had the second best per-screen average in the top 10, demonstrating the continued potency of marketing to religious audiences. Spike Lee's more obliquely religious Miracle at St. Anna, on the other hand, flopped with $3.5 million and 9th place.

A bit below the top 10, in semi-wide release, the Chuck Palahniuk adaptation Choke performed unspectacularly with $1.3 million on 435 screens. Still further down you'll find one of the year's most undignified crash-and-burns: Neil Burger's The Lucky Ones, about three soldiers returned from Iraq, which landed in 25th place with $208,000 on 425 screens, for $489 per screen. Ouch.

Find the full weekend estimates after the jump.
1 - Eagle Eye (Dreamworks/Paramount) - $29.20 ($8,319) - $29.20
2 - Nights in Rodanthe (Warner Bros.) - $13.57 ($5,018) - $13.57
3 - Lakeview Terrace (Screen Gems) - $7.00 ($2,837) - $25.70
4 - Fireproof (Samuel Goldwyn) - $6.51 ($7,764) - $6.51
5 - Burn After Reading (Focus) - $6.17 ($2,329) - $45.54
6 - Igor (MGM) - $5.50 ($2,349) - $14.34
7 - Righteous Kill (Overture) - $3.80 ($1,263) - $34.81
8 - My Best Friend's Girl (Lionsgate) - $3.80 ($1,442) - $14.53
9 - Miracle at St. Anna (Touchstone) - $3.50 ($2,954) - $3.50
10 - Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (Lionsgate) - $3.16 ($1,970) - $32.80

Hat tip: Box Office Mojo.

Next weekend's busy. Six films see wide release: An American Carol, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Blindness, Flash of Genius, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. Two more hit between 500 and 1000 screens: Religulous and Appaloosa. Good luck sorting that out, but Beverly Hills Chihuhua has an advantage, sadly, just based on its screen count.