'The Rite' Tops US Weekend B-O

JAN 31, 2011 - It was another dull weekend at the US box office, although new releases The Rite and The Mechanic held sway. No Strings Attached held relatively well too and several pictures capitalized on their Oscar nominations, led by The King's Speech (at No. 5). Overall business wasn't as off as recent weekends, but it was still down 13 percent from the same period last year, when Avatar reigned again.

The Rite crept into the No.1 spot with US$14.8 million on approximately 3,200 screens - the highest-grossing opening ever for Anthony Hopkins in a top-billed, non-Hannibal-Lecter role. The Mechanic didn't fix much but drew a decent US$11.4 million on around 2,900 screens. Oscar film True Grit collected about US$7.5 million to make the No. 6 spot while Black Swan made US$5.1 million at No. 8.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Jan 28 - 30, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.

1. The Rite (WB) $14.7 million ($14.7 million) 1

2. No Strings Attached (Paramount) $13.4 million ($39.5 million) 2

3. The Mechanic (CBS) $11.4 million ($11.4 million) 1

4. The Green Hornet (Sony) $11.1 million ($78.4 million) 3

5. The King's Speech (Weinstein) $11.0 million ($72.1 million) 10