Cloverfield, the J.J. Abrams-produced monster movie, grossed $46.1 million over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, per final studio figures compiled Tuesday by Exhibitor Relations.
The film's $40 million Friday-Sunday take was a January record, the box-office-tracking firm said.
Katherine Heigl's coming out as an above-the-line movie star, meanwhile, turned out pretty well. Her bridesmaid comedy, 27 Dresses, scored $27.4 million over the long weekend; its three-day gross of $23 million was akin to the 2003 debut for Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde 2.
In the weekend rankings, 27 Dresses took second behind Cloverfield.
Five spots way below was the new comedy Mad Money ($7.7 million Friday-Sunday; $9.3 million Friday-Monday), which could boast of stars Queen Latifah, Diane Keaton and Katie Holmes but not much else.
As the competition could attest, Cloverfield was a hard movie to top. It hogged the good reviews, along with the ticket buyers—no movie in major or limited release played to more filled seats.
Ostensibly a camcorder-captured tale of a monster attacking Manhattan, Cloverfield posted a debut on par the likes of other latter-day monster movies, including Peter Jackson's King Kong ($50.1 million in 2005), Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park ($47 million in 1993) and Hollywood's Godzilla ($44 million in 1998).
But compared with those movies' budgets, Cloverfield was a shoestring indie. It was produced fast and cheap by studio standards, costing a reputed $30 million. It built its buzz on a Blair Witch Project-like campaign that shrouded everything from the movie's title to its monster star in mystery. (As it turned out, the monster, whatever it was exactly, was only briefly glimpsed.)
Paramount sealed the deal when it announced that screenings of Cloverfield would be prefaced by the first teaser trailer for Abrams' new Star Trek movie.
The rest of Hollywood versus Leonard Nimoy's voice? It wasn't fair or even close.
Elsewhere among the also-runs:
* The Bucket List ($14.1 million Friday-Sunday; $16.6 million Friday-Monday; $44.2 million overall) fell from first to third.
* With interest-boosting Oscar nominations on the way Tuesday, Juno (fourth place, $10 million Friday-Sunday; $12 million Friday-Monday) moved closer to $100 million—it now stands at $87.1 million overall.
* With its Oscar stock sinking, Atonement (10th place, $4.6 million Friday-Sunday; $5.5 million Friday-Monday; $32.7 million overall) may have seen the last of the top 10.
* The Golden Compass ($607,352 Friday-Monday) passed $300 million worldwide, proving, its studio said, the fantasy film's "immense global appeal." In the United States, the movie has made about as much as Fred Claus, proving, its studio did not say, the movie's more limited appeal here.
* Playing in 14 theaters, the new Pamela Anderson-Denise Richards comedy Blonde and Blonder found enough takers to make $26,500, a blockbuster sum compared with the last blond bomb, Jessica Simpson's Blonde Ambition, which played for three weekends last month and barely topped $5,000 overall.
Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday tallies (and Friday-Monday) compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Cloverfield, $40 million ($46.1 million)
2. 27 Dresses, $23 million ($27.4 million)
3. The Bucket List, $14.1 million ($16.7 million)
4. Juno, $10 million ($12 million)
5. First Sunday, $7.8 million ($9.6 million)
6. National Treasure: Book of Secrets, $7.6 million ($9.5 million)
7. Mad Money, $7.7 million ($9.3 million)
8. Alvin and the Chipmunks, $6.9 million ($9.4 million)
9. I Am Legend, $4.9 million ($5.9 million)
10. Atonement, $4.6 million ($5.5 million)
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