Top Shelf at the Box Office: 3/30/09

1. Monsters vs. Aliens- $58.2M

Coming at no surprise, Monsters vs. Aliens annihilated the competition with a whopping $58M opening weekend. The animated feature, which features the voice talents of Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, and Hugh Laurie amongst others, had the highest grossing opening weekend for a digital 3-D film ever. Considering that it is also playing in IMAX, I imagine this will be racking up cash for many weeks to come. The side effect is that it's driving Watchmen out of IMAX theaters, thus cripping that film's receipts also.

2. The Haunting in Connecticut- $23M

Seriously? People obviously fell for the marketing ploy that this was "based on actual events", and lined up in droves. It's opening is in line with other films of this type, such as the recent Amityville remake and the Haunting of Molly Hartley. Obviously the fanbase for these types of films is reliable.....and gullible.

3. Knowing- $14.7M/$46.2M

The undisputed champ from last week probably predicted it's own 40% decline, which isn't all that bad in comparison to some other top films. My prediction that this would tumble it's way out of the top 5 was obviously way off. As usual.

4. I Love You, Man- $12.6M/$37M

That's only a 30% drop for the Paul Rudd starring vehicle. Unlike last year's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, this drop is a lot less steep, and by the looks of things it's on course to match or exceed that film's total receipts. It also compares favorably to Paul Rudd's most recent starring effort, Role Models. It looks like the combination of Rudd/Segal is one that can be counted on for solid if not spectacular returns.

5. Duplicity- $7.56M/$25.6M

Ouch! Well damn, Julia! You lost damn near 47% this weekend! I thought you were a star? And what about you, Mr. Owen? What's your excuse? I know this film was basically for adults only and it had to compete with a family friendly animated juggernaut, but this is ridiculous. You've got an Oscar nominated director, two of the biggest names on the planet, and a delightfully quirky premise and this is the end result? I'm not blaming anybody involved with the film. I blame America, who would rather see a bunch of no-names vomit up poltergeists. For shame!

6. Race to Witch Mountain- $5.64M/$53.3M

Monsters vs. Aliens laid the smacketh down on The Rock's candyass, as expected. It's the one prediction I got right last week. Whoo whoo! Talk about low hanging fruit.

7. 12 Rounds- $5.3M

However, even with like three weeks lead time The Rock was still enough to force John Cena's piss poor actioner 12 Rounds to tap out. By comparison, John Cena's previous craptacular explode-a-thon, The Marine, opened at $7M.

8. Watchmen- $2.75M $103M

With Monsters vs. Aliens taking over IMAX, Watchmen's numbers are taking a bigger hit. By the looks of things, Watchmen will not be recouping it's estimated $150M budget domestically, but worldwide receipts are still pretty impressive. The question remains whether or not what has to be considered a disappointing return will have any effect on future comic book films that don't come with some serious name recognition. For instance, what does this hold for Kick Ass? Or Scott Pilgrim?

9. Taken- $2.7M/$137M

10. The Last House on the Left- $2.61M/$28.5M

Also: Sunshine Cleaning continues to soak up big loot in few theaters, raking in an estimated $1,344,000 in only 167 screens. Due to it's success, it's expected that an additional 500 screens will be added beginning next week. The film is already playing here in the DC area at both AMC Shirlington and Cinema Arts Theater in Fairfax. Slumdog Millionaire finally used up it's last lifeline and tumbled out of the top 10, no doubt due to it's coming out on DVD tomorrow. But it's total winnings thus far have been very impressive, brining in over $139M.