"Coach Carter" Dunks Box Office

Coach Carter dunked over Elektra--and everyone else at the box office.

The inspiration hoops tale, a ripped-from-real life drama starring Samuel L. Jackson as the titular coach, netted $24.2 million from Friday to Sunday and $29.2 million for the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, according to final studio tallies released Monday.

That's the second-best gross for the MLK holiday, only beaten by last year's Along Came Polly, which made $27.7 million over the three-day and $32.5 million over the four-day period, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Coach Carter was a bit of good news for Paramount just before its new top executive, Brad Grey, takes over. The PG-13 release also had the best per-site average among wide releases, with $11,556 at 2,524 sites.

Meanwhile, Elektra the Jennifer Garner-starring Daredevil spinoff that had hoped for a superhero-like performance this weekend, was not only beaten out by Coach Carter, but also lagged behind the Fockers, a speedy zebra and some good company.

Meet The Fockers continued to rake in the bucks, finishing the three-day weekend with a still solid $19.3 million and $22.5 over the four-day holiday to bring the Universal comedy sequel's total gross to $234.3 million.

Racing Stripes, featuring the aforementioned striped critter who thinks he can compete with the big boys (i.e., thoroughbreds), crossed the tape in third place with $13.9 million from Friday to Sunday and $18.9 million Friday to Monday. The live-action Warners' family comedy, starring Hayden Panettiere as the girl who harnesses Stripes the zebra, and a whole bunch of celeb voices as the talking animals, averaged $5,922 at 3,185 sites.

Universal's critically acclaimed dramedy In Good Company, starring Dennis Quaid, Marg Helgenberger, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson, moved into wide release and packed theaters. The PG-13 film leapt up from 33rd place to third for the three-day period, with a very good $14.3 million, and fourth over the entire MLK holiday, with $16.6 million. It had the second-best average among the top 10, with $10,625 at 1,563 sites.

And that brings us to Elektra. The comic book-based flick, about a female superhero who rises from death to become a martial-arts vigilante, was sliced and diced by the competition, earning just $12.8 million through Sunday and $14.8 million through Monday. The PG-13 Fox release averaged just $4,618 at 3,204 sites. Even Halle Berry's dog Catwoman opened stronger than that.

Bruce Snyder, Fox's domestic distribution exec, took some consolation in Elektra relatively low budget (reportedly in the mid-$30 million range), but still admitted the film's busines was "okay, but not great." He speculated that superwomen just don't seem to draw as well as supermen. According to tracking, 53 percent of the audience was over 25 and more than half male.

In limited release, Geneon Entertainment's Appleseed, an animé import featuring the kick-ass warrior heroine of a futuristic society, zapped in at 31 sites, averaging $2,575 for a four-day total of $79,818.

Miramax's PG-13 French import The Chorus--about a inspirational singing coach who corrals a bunch of misfit kids into to music lovers--averaged a tuneful $11,620 at just two sites for $23,239 for the four-day holiday.

Overall, box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations estimates that three-day business for the top 12 movies was $117.8 million for the three-day weekend, up 18 percent from last weekend, and $142.7 million for the four-day holiday, up 25 percent from this time last year.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films for the Friday-Monday holiday weekend (Friday-Sunday results in parenthesis):

1. Coach Carter, $29.2 million ($24.2 million)
2. Meet the Fockers, $22.5 million ($19.3 million)
3. Racing Stripes, $18.9 million ($13.9 million)
4. In Good Company, $16.6 million ($14.3 million)
5. Elektra, $14.8 million ($12.8 million)
6. White Noise, $13.8 million ($12.1 million)
7. The Aviator, $5.1 million ($6.4 million)
8. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, $5.3 million ($4 million)
9. The Phantom of the Opera, $4.6 million ($3.7 million)
10. Fat Albert, $4.6 million ($2.8 million)

(Originally published Jan. 16, 2005 at 1:35 p.m. PT.)