In a rare second-week coup, Bee Movie topped the weekend box office and passed fellow sophomore American Gangster, Variety reports. The Denzel Washington flick dropped 44% after leading last week, while Bee fell just 32%. Newcomer Fred Claus took third, with a less than stellar $19.2 million, while Lions for Lambs banked just $6.7 million.
Lions, Cruise's first UA pic with Paula Wagner, is the latest foreign policy film to be vetoed by audiences. Warner Bros. was upbeat about Claus, saying holiday movies endure, but insiders admit they’d hoped to crack $20 million this frame. On art house screens, No Country for Old Men fared well, banking $42,912 per screen and totaling $1.2 million. (More movies stories.)