With a huge marketing push, Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" came in first place for the weekend box office; his first film to open at No. 1 in 15 years. It opened in 3017 theaters and took in an estimated $27 million.
Violence was part of the second-place finisher as well, as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, the prequel to the other "Chainsaw," went on to take in around $19.2 million for the weekend.
Open Season, Sony's hit animation feature dropped from first to third, but it only slowed down by 32% which is great. Normally the drop is much higher. Their 10-day total is now up to $44.1 million and may last a lot longer as their isn't much competition for some time with the family movie-going audience. They garnered an estimated $16 million during its second weekend.
Here's how the rest of the top 10 fared:
| 1 | The Departed | $27,015,000 |
| 2 | Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning | $19,150,000 |
| 3 | Open Season | $16,000,000 |
| 4 | Employee of the Month | $11,800,000 |
| 5 | The Guardian | $9,643,000 |
| 6 | Jackass: Number Two | $6,400,000 |
| 7 | School for Scoundrels | $3,413,000 |
| 8 | Gridiron Gang | $2,300,000 |
| 9 | Jet Li's Fearless | $2,198,000 |
| 10 | The Illusionist | $1,825,000 |
Comment Preview