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This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts & Entertainment

Box Office Review: Museum Terminates the competition!

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Maybe Bill Hader can remind Ben Stiller how to be funny. | Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

While it was expected to be a close race, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($53.5M) easily topped Terminator Salvation ($43M) to capture the weekend box office crown. Both of these borderline movies will surely be blown out of the water next week by the absolutely fantastic Up (saw it; loved it). Star Trek slipped to third but still had a strong weekend ($21.9M/$183.5M), managing to edge last week's champ Angels & Demons ($21.4M/$81.5M). Newcomer Dance Flick finished fifth with a decent take of $11.1M.

The second half of the top 10 was led by the geeky X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($7.8M/$163M). After that it was the moronic Ghosts of Blah Blah Blah ($3.7M/$45.8M), the surprising Obsessed ($2M/$65.9M), the monstrously successful Monsters vs. Aliens ($1.3M/$192.9M) and the humorless 17 Again ($1M/$60.3M). The limited release crowd was headed by Easy Virtue ($11,600 per theater). The rest of the indie segment underperformed: Burma VJ ($5180 per), O'Horten ($3238) and The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story ($2780).

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