Monday Box Office: "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" is #1!

Incandescent filmmaker Tyler Perry’s latest family comedy “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” opened in the top place in North America’s ticket booths this weekend, with an estimated 24 million dollars in ticket sales during three days beginning Friday, preliminary estimates provided by North American boxoffice authorities Sunday show.

The PG-13 rated Lionsgate film was Perry’s second number one debut of the year, and the fifth among his eight movies released in just 4 1/2 years. It leads a pack of weak contenders during the traditionally one of the most sluggish weekends. Adopted from one of Perry’s plays, the film tells the story about an alcoholic singer who finds healing in church and family. Madea, a pistol-packing granny, has become a phenomenon with the screening of Perry’s latest two films, with the first being “Madea Goes to Jail,” which opened to a personal best of 41 million dollars in February. His low-budget films have been especially popular among black women moviegoers. He was rated one of Hollywood’s top ten money makers in 2009. With the debut of this hilarious flick, he is destined to continue with his golden trail.

“9 (Animated)” debuted in second place, with an estimated 10.9 million dollars in sales. The film, an animated sci-fi/action film from Focus, is a post-apocalyptic tale of some creepy-looking rag dolls. It got an early start on the competition by opening on Wednesday, and its total stands at 15.3 million dollars. Based on Shane Acker’s Academy Award-nominated short film of the same name, it is directed by Acker and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, and stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly and Jennifer Connelly.

The WWII saga “Inglourious Basterds” from Weinstein Co. and featuring Hollywood’s top headliner Brad Pitt, slipped one place to third standing. It has fetched 6.5 million dollars this weekend and grossed a total revenue of 104.3 million dollars over four weeks.

Rounding out the top five films in North America over the weekend are: “All about Steve,” a comedy produced by Sandra Bullock from Fox debuting with 5.8 million dollars, and 21.8 million dollars over two week; “The Final Destination,” a horror flick from Warner Bros., with 5.5 million dollars this weekend and58.3 million dollars over three weeks after standing two weekends in a row as number one.