Audiences 'Obsessed' with Beyonc

By Sarah Sluis

This weekend's top draw at the box office was Obsessed, a thriller about a married man and his workplace stalker. Star Beyonc helped draw in female viewers, nudging the Sony Screen Gems picture to $28.5 million, its second-highest open after another kind of horror film, The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Obsessed earned over double the gross of the runner-up, 17 Again. The Zac Efron starrer dropped 50% from last week to finish at $11.6 million.

At number three, Fighting brought in $11.4 million from the genre audience, and, despite a title ripe for mocking, earned a 38% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Earning $8.5 million, Earth bragged the best open ever for a nature film, a boon for the new Disneynature label, which already has a follow-up, Oceans, planned for Earth Day 2010. Even with a star-studded cast, a pedigree director, and little competition, The Soloist earned a light $9.7 million. The music tale failed to hit the right note, and had little to entice audiences.

At number six, Monsters vs. Aliens continued to enjoy the long box-office ride characteristic of animated children's films, and especially 3D ones. In its fifth week of release, it earned $8.5 million while dropping just 35%, the smallest decrease of any top ten film. Compare that to third-weeker Hannah Montana: The Movie, which dropped 58% its first week, and slightly curbed its fall this week to 52%, grossing $6.3 million.

On the specialty side, Bret Easton Ellis adaptation The Informers, Sundance's "designated punching bag," continued its beating, earning just $622 per theatre to bring in $300,000 at #19. On the flip side, Tyson earned $7,818 per theatre across eleven locations, an auspicious open for the documentary. This Friday, X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens alongside romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and 3D animated Battle for Terra.