Rank
Title
Weekend
Gross
Cumulative
Gross
Weeks in
Release
1
Norbit
$33,740,000
$33,740,000
1
2
 Hannibal Rising
$13,350,000
$13,350,000
1
3
 Because I Told You So
$9,041,000
$25,626,000
2
4
 The Messengers
$7,200,000
$24,724,000
2
5
Night at the Museum
$5,750,000
$232,146,000
8
6
 Epic Movie
$4,450,000
$35,474,000
3
7
 Smokin’ Aces
$3,793,000
$30,854,000
3
8
$3,549,000
$26,591,000
7
9
 Dreamgirls
$3,093,000
$97,119,000
9
10
 The Queen
$2,510,000
$49,035,000
 20


In a land where press couldn’t stop talking about the death of Anna Nicole Smith… In a land where the death of insignificant celebrities garnered more attention than dead presidents… In a land where grief and sorrow would bring a nation to its knees… American theater-goers exhibited a courage and resiliance that would demonstrate to the world America would, and could, survive… aided, in large part, by the pink bikini bottoms of Eddie Murphy in a fat suit.

Proving once again that Eddie Murphy in a fat suit is more bankable than Eddie Murphy as Eddie Murphy, Norbit surprised even Paramount with an estimated $33.7 million weekend take. Hominah! Norbit easily took number one and spank, spank, spanked Hannibal Rising which debuted at a weak number two with $13 million.

Fact is, the Lecter franchise has been a weird one, unintentionally birthed by way of Anthony Hopkins performance in Silence of the Lambs. Lecter’s cinematic popularity begins and ends with him. With unknown Gaspard Ulliel anchoring Rising as the young "Cannibal", the rehash of Hannibal’s life as a young man turned the property into nothing more than a zero-buzz thriller that happened to use the infamous name. The weekend results shouldn’t come as an surprise. Let that be a lesson to you, Thomas Harris.

The rest of the weekend box office fell out with the remnants of last weeks winners, The Messengers and Because I said So switching places and falling back to the three and four spots. The reast of the chart played out the same line-up we’ve seen for the last few months, namely, Night at the Museum (5), Epic Movie (6), Smokin’ Aces (7), Pan’s Labyrinth (8) –which continues to hold a place in the top ten as other higher number debuts slide past it–, with Dreamgirls (9) and The Queen (10) rounding out what has become the usual suspects.

Best Foreign-Language Acadamy Award nominee The Lives of Others opened in only 13 theaters, but pulled in a decent $17,500 per screen.

Next week, we’re getting a slew of movies, most notably "everyone agrees it looks really crappy" Ghost Rider, “It’s not the movie they’re advertising” Bridge to Terabithia, Hugh Grant’s Valentine day gooper Music and Lyrics, some silly Tyler Perry movie called Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls and, in limited release, horror buzzed Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon.