Vince Vaughn continued proving that his older-skewing comedies are capable of doing big things at the box office.
“Couples Retreat,” which featured an ensemble cast of comedy players like Vaugn, Jon Favreau, Kristen Bell and Jason Bateman, opened to an estimated $35 million this weekend. The figure was more than enough to help “Retreat” tackle the box office, as it send last week’s winner “Zombieland” down to second place.
The acclaimed zombie comedy still performed well, however, as it only dropped 39% to $15 million. Strong holdover player “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” was third with $12 million.
If the success of “Couples Retreat” marked the weekend’s big inevitability, the true surprise came in the performance for the expanded “Paranormal Activity.” On just 159 screens, the film mustered a total of $7.1 million for fifth place. The mark sets the record as the best weekend performance for a film on less than 200 screens (“Platoon” had previously held the record with $3.7 million on 174 screens).
Weekend Top Ten:
1) Couples Retreat – $35 million
2) Zombieland – $15 million ($47.8 million)
3) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – $12 million ($96.3 million)
4) Toy Story/Toy Story 2 in 3D – $7.7 million ($22.7 million)
5) Paranormal Activity – $7.1 million ($8.3 million)
6) Surrogates – $4.1 million ($32.6 million)
7) The Invention of Lying – $3.4 million ($12.3 million)
8) Whip It – $2.8 million ($8.8 million)
9) Capitalism: A Love Story – $2.7 million ($9.1 million)
10) Fame – $2.6 million ($20 million)
