The arrival of the souped-up screen version of the good ol' rebel boys TV action comedy dusted Wedding Crashers down to second place, but a strong fourth week showing from that hot dudes' caper helped drive the overall box office compared to last year to an up week after two downers in a row.

The Dukes of Hazzard entered a box-office race in which there were no other new wide releases and dodged poor reviews--many of which saw the movie as an empty vessel sure to tank.

The PG-13 Warner Bros release--starring Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott as the General Lee wheel-spinners Luke and Bo, with Jessica Simpson squeezed into Daisy's short shorts, Willie Nelson as Uncle Jesse and Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg--zoomed into 3,785 sites, where it averaged $8,078 per screen. Reportedly about two-thirds of the audience was under 25, so clearly not those with nostalgia for the television series which aired on CBS from 1979-85, with Tom Wopat as Luke, John Schneider as Bo, Catherine Bach as ditzy Daisy, Denver Pyle as Uncle Jesse and Sorrell Booke as Boss Hoggs.

Adding 76 screens to party it up at 3,106 sites, Wedding Crashers, starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as the raunchy love-seekers, only dropped 18 percent from its first place last weekend. Earning another $16.5 million in second place from a $5,312 average, the R-rated New Line release has now scored $144 million.

Third place went to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which only fell off 36 percent in its fourth week, despite dropping 73 sites to play at 3,702 locations. Tim Burton's confection, starring Johnny Depp and Freddie Highmore, earned $10.5 million from a $2,854 average and has now grossed $169 million.

In fourth and fifth places were Sky High and Must Love Dogs, which held up okay after modest openings the previous week. The superhero schoolboy adventure dropped only 38 percent to earn $9 million, pushing its gross to $32 million, and the romantic comedy dropped 42 percent to earn $7.4 million, pushing its gross to $26.2 million.

Nose-diving more sharply was the expensive airplane action flick Stealth, down 56 percent to seventh place from its lackluster fourth place opening. Heading fast for the scrap heap, the Sony release averaged just $1,660 while remaining at 3,495 sites, its $5.8 million bringing is overall intake to a mere $24.4 million.

Furthermore, a bunch of flightless birds flew past it. Moving up from tenth to sixth place was March of the Penguins, waddling along as the hottest film of the summer. The G-rated Warner Independent Picture release added 1,089 screens to play at 1,867 in its seventh week. Gaining 72 percent, the nature documentary averaged $3,709 per screen for $6.9 million bringing its current gross to $26.2 million.

Additionally, the two films in eighth and ninth places, Fox's dysfunctional super heroes fantasy Fantastic Four, and Paramount's alien invasion drama War of the Worlds, though now in their fifth and sixth weeks of release, both dropped off less and had better per screen averages, and have currently achieved overall grosses of $143.7 million and $224.6 million.

However, now in tenth place, The Island is another expensive disaster. In three weeks the DreamWorks sci-fi adventure has only grossed $30.9 million.

In limited release, director Wong Kar Wai's 2046, which follows Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as a gambler turned writer with an continued yen for romantic trysts, averaged $28,214 at just four sites to earn the Sony Pictures Classic's R-rated Chinese import a lovely $112,856.

Also filling seats was director Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers, which follows Bill Murray as an aging bachelor drawn to old flames as he searches for his unknown child. The R-rated Focus release averaged $27,607 at 27 sites for $745,394.

Sony Pictures Classic's R-rated Junebug, which had opened Wednesday at seven locations, averaged $11,011. That brought director Phil Morrison's movie about a newly married couple who return to his down South roots $77,080. Miramax's R-rated Secuestro Express, a kidnapping tale set in Venezuela, directed on digital-video by Jonathan Jakubowicz, opened at eight sites, where it averaged $4,933 for $39,467.

Overall, the top 12 movies grossed $102.5 million, down 8.4 percent over last weekend, but up 4.7 percent over this time last year when Collateral earned a solid but unspectacular $24.7 million its opening weekend.

Final figures are due Monday. Top ten estimates from Exhibitor Relations, which tallies the studios' box-office are as follows:

1. The Dukes of Hazzard, $30.5 million
2. Wedding Crashers, $16.5 million
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, $10.5 million
4. Sky High, $9 million
5. Must Love Dogs, $7.4 million
6. March of the Penguins, $6.9 million
7. Stealth, $5.8 million
8. Fantastic Four, $4 million
9. War of the Worlds, $3.5 million
10. The Island, $3.1 million