Kevin James was the unlikely star at the box office this weekend with Paul Blart: Mall Cop, but pretty much everything that opened also did well.
Blart — which had a PG rating that was pivotal to getting kids and families out to the theaters along with the usual troupes of 14-year-old boys — is estimated to gross $39 million over the four-day weekend. James has previously played the co-star to more established movie stars like Will Smith in Hitch and Adam Sandler in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, but ironically, Blart opened bigger than both Seven Pounds and Bedtime Stories, the two Christmas movies from those stars.
Also doing well was My Bloody Valentine 3D with $24 million; Notorious with $24 million and the best per-theater average in the top ten; and Hotel for Dogs with $22 million. Defiance expanded and made a decent $11 million, and to a lesser extent so did Last Chance Harvey with $5 million.
Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino continues to be shockingly massive, making another $26 million this weekend and boosting its total to $77 million. A total gross of over $150 million is likely at this point.
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