Memorable Open for "Forgotten"

The Forgotten had a memorable debut, dominating the weekend box office with an opening take of $21.2 million, according to final studio talles released Monday.

Sony's PG-13 psychological horror movie, starring Julianne Moore as a grieving mom butting heads with mysterious forces to try to prove that her dead son really existed, is the studio's sixth number one opener of the year.

With studios dumping less commercial entries in this traditionally slow back-to-school season, The Forgotten was the only newcomer to register with audiences.

Much less successful was First Daughter, starring Katie Holmes as a presidential offspring butting heads with the powers that be to try to have a free-spirited private life. The PG Fox release debuted with just $4 million, finishing in fifth place a smidgen behind Resident Evil: Apocalypse, still kicking zombie butt in its third week of release.

The new gory-genre spoof Shaun of the Dead, which promotes itself as a rom-zom-com, in which zombies butt into a slacker Brit's love life, opened in seventh place with $3.3 million. However, the R-rated Focus Features U.K. import could count itself a success, as it was only exposed at 607 sites, where it averaged a lively $5,487.

The Forgotten, with Gary Sinise, Anthony Edwards, Dominic West, Linus Roache and Alfre Woodard helping or hindering Moore's strange quest for the truth, opened much wider at 3,104 sites, where it averaged a solid $6,773.

First Daughter, at 2,259 theaters, pulled a measly $1,771 per-site average.

In limited release, The Motorcycle Diaries, starring Gael Garcia Bernal as pre-revolutionary Che Guevara, Rodrigo de la Serna as his traveling companion Alberto Granado, and a Norton bike as their means of transportation on a mind-opening journey through 1950s South America, revved to a jammed-packed $53,273 per screen at just three sites for $159,819--more good news for Focus Features, which released the R-rated biographical drama.

The Yes Men, an R-rated MGM documentary about political pranksters' anti-World Trade Organization antics, drew a positive $8,124 average at three sites, for $24,373.

The Last Shot, a comedy that pokes fun at everybody's desire to be in showbiz, averaged $4,709 at 35 screens. The R-rated Buena Vista release, starring Alec Baldwin as a government agent who gets the Hollywood bug after he cons desperate eager-beaver filmmaker Matthew Broderick into making a movie to help take down some mobsters, grossed a so-so $164,801.

Doing slightly better business was Miramax's crime thriller import from Hong Kong, Infernal Affairs, which averaged $5,136. It played at just five screens and grossed $25,680.

Last week's top movie, the retro futuristic Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, crashed 57 percent into second place, earning only $6.7 million to bring the expensive production's two-week gross to a mere $25.5 million.

Staying more successfully in the game was Bernie Mac's baseball comedy Mr. 3000, which only dropped 41 percent, down from second place to third, where it earned $5.1 million to bring its two-week gross to $15.4 million.

The other sports-themed movie, the romantic comedy Wimbledon, was definitely ad-out and facing defeat. It dropped 53 percent down from fourth place to eighth, where it earned $3.3 million to brings its two-week gross to just $12.1 million.

Overall, it was another down week, the top 12 films only grossing $59 million, 7 percent less than last week, and 26 percent less than this time last year.

Here is a rundown of the top 10, based on studio figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. The Forgotten, $21.2 million
2. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, $6.7 million
3. Mr. 3000, $5.1 million
4. Resident Evil: Apocalypse, $4.04 million
5. First Daughter, $4 million
6. Cellular, $3.7 million
7. Shaun of the Dead, $3.22 million
8. Wimbledon, $3.32 million
9. Without a Paddle, $2.4 million
10. Hero, $2.2 million

(Originally published Sept. 26 at 12:35 p.m. PT.)