For the second straight weekend Will Ferrell raced to the top of the box office pulling in $23 million from American movie goers. Talladega Nights opened last weekend with $47 million, knocking Miami Vice from its one week reign in the top spot. To date Talladega Nights has grossed $91 million from the U.S. market.
It was a bitter sweet weekend for director Oliver Stone who saw World Trade Center place third in ticket sales. Despite finishing in third, the $19 million WTC brought in was a record for a Stone premier weekend. Added to its Wednesday and Thursday totals the film has grossed $26.8 million.
The surprise of the weekend came from Disney, whose Step Up stood up and brought in $21 million. The movie centers on a kid from a bad area who happens to be a great street dancer, meets a ballet dancer who enlists him as her partner, and the two overcome the social odds of opposite worlds coming together. Most experts figured the movie to flop but the story never seems to get old as it finished number two.
Last weeks number two dropped a few spots into the number four slot. Barnyard: The Original Party Animals continued to be the favored choice of animated films with a take of $10.1 million.
Horror made it back into the top five as the premier of Pulse finished the weekend with $8.5 million in ticket sales.
Pirates of the Caribbean, the fastest film to the $300 million mark in the domestic market, added to its haul with an additional $7.2 million to bring its total to over $392 million in six weeks at the U.S. box office. Johnny Depp and his mates continued to do well internationally, the premier in Spain set a record at $11.5 million.
1. "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," $23 million.
2. "Step Up," $21 million
3. "World Trade Center," $19 million.
4. "Barnyard," 10.1 million.
5. "Pulse," $8.5 million
6. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," 7.2 million.
7. "Zoom," 4.6 million.
8. "The Descent," $4.6 million.
9. "Miami Vice," $4.5 million.
10. "Monster House," $3.3 million.