"Fockers" Shushes "White Noise"

The boisterous Fockers managed to drown out White Noise.

Meet the Fockers remained on top of the box office for the third weekend in a row, earning $28.5 million from Friday to Sunday to bring the dysfunctional family comedy's gross to a whopping $204.3 million.

White Noise, a new horror mystery starring ex-Batman and onetime Mr. Mom Michael Keaton as an architect with I-hear-dead-people problems, was shushed into second place. But its $24.1 million was earned at considerably fewer theaters, giving it the per-screen-average victory among wide releases. At 2,261 theaters, White Noise averaged $10,665 despite being slammed by critics, while Meet the Fockers, the amazingly successful sequel to Meet the Parents, averaged $8,080 at 3,527 theaters.

The Fockers' three-peat and the combined one-two top listing was good news for Universal, the studio which released both PG-13 movies, which together attracted 54 percent of ticket sales over the weekend, according to final studio figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations Monday.

With none of the top 10 movies dropping off over 50 percent from the previous weekend, distributors didn't have too much to complain about. Combined business for the top 12 movies was down 21 percent from last weekend, but that's understandable given that the holiday season is over, school is back in session, and NFL football playoffs dominate television, and the $97.7 million overall gross was actually 7 percent higher than this time last year.

Fox executive Richard Myerson felt business for his studio's Fat Albert was "fantastic" in its third week, particularly on Saturday when its core audience of family and teens bought tickets, boosting sales more than 100 percent over Friday night's take. The PG-rated live-action comedy take on the TV 'toon earned $5.7 million at 2,675 sites. It dropped just 44 percent and one slot to fifth place, behind multiple Golden Globe nominee and probable Oscar contender The Aviator's $7.5 million in third and rival kid flick Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which earned $7.4 million in fourth.

In limited release, the National Society of Film Critics' Best Picture winner and another of the potential major Oscar contenders Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood's female boxing drama starring Hilary Swank, expanded from nine screens to 109 in its fourth week, consequently gaining 607 percent for $1.9 million on a per-site average of $17,618.

Another big challenger in the awards game, Sideways, won't expand until the end of this month, after the Golden Globes have been handed out and the Oscar nominations announced. The wine-quaffing, road-tripping, midlife-crisis-suffering buddy comedy, now in its 12th week of release dropped 11 percent, earning $1.9 million with a per-screen average of $5,225 at just 365 locations, five fewer than last weekend.

Gaining from expansion was yet another Oscar wannabe, the fact-based drama Hotel Rwanda starring Don Cheadle. Adding 98 locations to play at 105, the MGM/UA release gained 708 percent, earning $1.2 million from a $11,154 per-screen average.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films based on preliminary studio figures; final tallies will be released Monday:

1. Meet the Fockers, $28.5 million
2. White Noise, $24.1 million
3. The Aviator, $7.5 million
4. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, $7.4 million
5. Fat Albert, $5.7 million
6. Ocean's Twelve, $5.3 million
7. Spanglish, $4.251 million
8. National Treasure, $4.25 million
9. The Phantom of the Opera, $3.4 million
10. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, $2.7 million

(Originally published Jan. 9, 2005 at 12:10 p.m. PT.)