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Arts & Entertainment

Box Office Review: A Monster Weekend!

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Yeah, I know this picture has nothing to do with this weekend's movies. | Photo courtesy of Paramount

Monsters vs. Aliens stormed past expectations en route to a rousing $58.2M opening weekend win at the box office. The Haunting in Connecticut may just be another generic horror pic, but it still managed to scare up a healthy $23M worth of business. Last week's champ, Knowing, slipped to third but still had a distressingly strong weekend ($14.7M/$46.2M) as did the very funny I Love You, Man ($12.6M/$37M). The bloom is apparently off Julia Roberts' rose as Duplicity showed weakness in its second frame ($7.5M/$25.6M).

The entirely unnecessary Race to Watch Mountain ($5.6M/$53.2M) edged newcomer 12 Rounds ($5.3M) while the plug was officially pulled on The Watchmen as it shed almost three-quarters of its theaters ($2.7M/$103.2M). The resilient Taken is still printing money ($2.7M/$137M) as is The Last House on the Left ($2.6M/$28.4M). The limited release crowd was led by The Cross: The Arthur Blessit Story ($327,000 but only $1480 per theater). Both Goodbye Solo ($13,500 per) and Shall We Kiss? ($7750) were much stronger.

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