Most films avoided release in the US over the last couple of weekends, assuming it would be dominated by horror in the run up to Halloween, but with that over, it was back to business as usual, with three new films vying for the top spot on the US box office chart. The winner was Dreamworks Animation’s Megamind, which took $47.6 million in its first three days.
That’s not too bad, and is actually more than Dreamworks last film, How To Take Your Dragon, grossed in its first weekend. That film turned into a sizable hit, so while a lot of animated movies have made a lot more on their openings, Dreamworks will be hoping Megamind will have the legs at the box office that its predecessor did. That will largely depend on word of mouth, especially as there’s going to be a lot of competition for family audiences over the coming weeks (something How To Train Your Dragon didn’t have to worry about).
The new Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galafianakis movie, Due Date, took the second spot on the chart, grossing $33 million. While trailing the $45 million The Hangover took on its debut, it’s still one of the 10 biggest openings ever for an R-rated comedy. However with bad reviews and reports the movie isn’t going over too well with audiences, it may struggle to keep its numbers high from now on.
The third spot went to another new entry, Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls, where the director eschewed his self-written comedies and went for something more serious, featuring an impressive cast of African-American actresses. It’s a great start for the type of movie it is, and just shows how Tyler has managed to capture the imagination of black audiences, who made up an estimated 81% of the people who watched the film.
While landing outisde the top 10 because they’re only on limited release, 127 Hours and Fair Game are also worth a mention. 127 Hours took an impressive $266,000 on only four screens, giving it by far the highest per-screen average on the chart and boding well for its expansion over the next few weeks. Doug Liman’s Fair Game, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts also did well, taking $700,000 on only 46 screens. While it’s per-screen average was less impressive, it was still higher than Megamind, suggesting decent audience interest.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of November 5th-7th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Megamind | $47.6 | $47.6 |
| 2 | Due Date | $33.5 | $33.5 |
| 3 | For Colored Girls | $20.1 | $20.1 |
| 4 | Red | $8.8 | $71.8 |
| 5 | Saw 3D | $8.2 | $38.8 |
| 6 | Paranormal Activity 2 | $7.2 | $77.2 |
| 7 | Jackass 3D | $5.1 | $110.8 |
| 8 | Hereafter | $4.0 | $28.7 |
| 9 | Secretariat | $4.0 | $50.9 |
| 10 | Easy A | $3.6 | $85.0 |