Will Ferrell's latest sports comedy, Semi-Pro, leaped to the top of the North American box office this weekend, but it failed to match up to the openings of his previous hits Blades of Glory and Talladega Nights.
Semi-Pro, a New Line Cinema release directed by Kent Alterman, stars Ferrell as the owner and coach of an incompetent basketball team. The comedy earned US$15.2 million from ticket sales at 3,121 locations. That's about half of the $33 million opening-weekend gross of Blades of Glory, and approximately one third of the $47 million opening of Talladega Nights.
Last week's box office champion, Vantage Point, dropped to No. 2, with $13 million, lifting its domestic gross to $41 million after two weeks in release. The terrorism action spectacle directed by Pete Travis centers on eight strangers who get tangled up in an assassination attempt on the U.S. president.
At No. 3, Mark Waters' adventure tale The Spiderwick Chronicles collected $8.7 million. The Paramount release based on the books by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi reached a cumulative gross of $55 million after a solid three-week run.
New entry The Other Boleyn Girl debuted in fourth place this weekend, pulling $8.3 million from admissions at only 1,166 theaters. The period drama directed by Justin Chadwick and starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman tells the story of two sisters who compete for the affection of King Henry VIII.
Meanwhile, Doug Liman's Jumper tumbled to No. 5, with $7.6 million. The 20th Century-Fox film, starring Hayden Christensen as a young man who can teleport himself, brought its total haul to $66.8 million after three weeks in theaters.
Walt Disney's Step Up 2 the Streets ranked in sixth, taking home $5.7 million from 2,528 sites and reaching a domestic total of $48.5 million. Jon Chu's sequel to the 2006 smash hit is just $17 million shy of its predecessor's $65 million cumulative.
Andrew Tennant's adventure comedy Fool's Gold slipped to seventh place this weekend with $4.4 million, while Oscar winner No Country for Old Men jumped back to No. 8 with $4.1 million.
Two films rounded out the top ten: new entry Penelope, which debuted in ninth place with $3.8 million, and Definitely, Maybe, which collected $3.3 million and lifted its cumulative gross to $26.6 million after three weeks.
Source: Box Office Mojo – www.boxofficemojo.com
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