No Meltdown for "Ice Age"

Ice Age: The Meltdown kept raking in the cool millions to remain the main attraction at the multiplex for the second weekend in a row.

The animated prehistoric beasties iced a quartet of newcomers with $33.8 million from Friday to Sunday, per official studio tallies Monday. Added to its whopping $68 million premiere, the PG-rated Fox sequel's current slush fund now stands at $115.8 million, making it the first movie this year to pass the $100 million mark.

Of the four new films in wide release, The Benchwarmers generated the most heat, opening in second place with $19.7 million. The baseball misfit comedy, starring Rob Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder, easily outpaced Antonio Banderas' teach-the-kids-to-tango movie Take the Lead ($12.1 million, third place), the all-star crime thriller Lucky Number Slevin ($7 million, fifth place) and the plus-sized Mo'Nique comedy Phat Girlz ($3.1 million, ninth place).

Despite dropping 50 percent from its mammoth debut, Ice Age: The Meltdown still had the top per-site average in the top 10, with $8,522 at 3,969 sites, and Fox is anticipating the 'toon will continue to hold up strong during the upcoming Easter holiday.

Sony's PG-13 The Benchwarmers attracted a young demo, with 60 percent of ticket buyers under 21 and evenly split between male and female. Hurled into 3,274 sites, the underdog ballplayer farce averaged an above-expectations $6,004.

Based on a true story, Take the Lead features Banderas as Pierre Dulaine, whose story was previously chronicled in Mad Hot Ballroom, the hit documentary about the power of dance to change lives in a New York high school. Hoofing into 3,009 locations, the semi-fictionalized PG-13 New Line release only averaged $4,005.

Lucky Number Slevin, in which Josh Hartnett is mistaken for a baddie by a bunch of baddies, opened in 1,984 theaters and averaged $3,544. The R-rated MGM flick, which costars Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley as rival crime bosses, and features showy turns by Bruce Willis and Lucy Liu, actually had a better average than the fourth-place finisher, Universal's bank-heist thriller Inside Man, which grossed $9.1 million from a $3,185 average at 2,867 sites to bring its haul to $66 million.

Phat Girlz, in which Mo'Nique displays the virtues of being generously proportioned, was also in more limited release. Opening at just 1,056 sites, the PG-13 Fox Searchlight release averaged $2,934 per screen, pulling its biggest audiences in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore (Mo' Nique's old stomping grounds).

In really limited release, Friends with Money, a wry look at the California rich life through the experiences of three woman (Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand and Joan Cusack) who have it and one (Jennifer Aniston) who doesn't, was clearly in the money. The R-rated Sony Pictures Classic release averaged $22,739 at just 28 sites for $636,681.

Meantime, while still at only 300 theaters, Thank You for Smoking registered in 10th place with $2.4 million from a healthy $7,723 per-site average. The R-rated Fox Searchlight release, starring Aaron Eckhart, will expand to over 1,000 sites next weekend. It has grossed $6.2 million in four weeks.

Overall the top 12 movies grossed $102.8 million, down 22 percent from last weekend, when Ice Age: The Meltdown set a March record, but a healthy 30 percent above this time last year, when Sahara had a barren debut.

Here's a rundown of the top-grossing films based on studio tallies compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Ice Age: The Meltdown, $33.8 million
2. The Benchwarmers, $19.7 million
3. Take the Lead, $12.1 million
4. Inside Man, $9.1 million
5. Lucky Number Slevin, $7 million
6. Failure to Launch, $4.1 million
7. ATL, $3.7 million
8. V for Vendetta, $3.4 million
9. Phat Girlz, $3.1 million
10. Thank You for Smoking, $2.3 million

(Originaly published Apr. 9, 2006 at 12:15 p.m. PT.)