Ron Glass

SUNDAY AM: For most people, this week’s stock market fall and rise was enough of a thrill ride. So I thought North American moviegoers would crave fresh comedy by Friday. Nope. They wanted even more suspense, so they turned out for Sony’s PG-13 suspense film Lakeview Terrace [in 2,464 theaters] directed by Neil LaBute and starring Samuel L. Jackson. The No. 1 pic opened to so-so reviews but made $5.1 million Friday and $6.5 million (+27%) Saturday for a better-than-expected $15.6M debut weekend. Then again, LaBute has a widening reputation for unusual psychological films. Sony claims Overbrook Entertainment (Will Smith and James Lassiter’s production company) brought in the movie for just $20M. Focus Features’ political spoof Burn After Reading [2,657], starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, held on to more than half its audience from a week ago (-47%) for the 2nd spot. It took in $3.4 million Friday and $4.6 million Saturday to score a $11.2M weekend and new cume of $36.4M. But Lionsgate’s R-rated (for racy and rotten) My Best Friend’s Girl [2,604]really fell apart at the box office. It opened #3, but what was supposed to be a weekend total in the mid-teens collapsed to just $8.3M. I’m now waiting for Hollywood to realize that Dane Cook is not a movie star. (In fact, a weekly MovieTickets.com poll showed that 37% of its filmgoers thought Cook should stick to stand-up comedy, while 36% believed he should keep acting. I say send him back on that HBO bus tour.)