User blog:Ceauntay/Weekend Box Office: 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' Easily Beats 'Sucker Punch' With $24.4 Million

Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch" opens lower than expected with $19 million; "Limitless" and "Lincoln Lawyer" enjoy strong holds.

Fox 2000's kids sequel Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules easily won the weekend box office race, grossing a hearty $24.4 million and delivering Fox a new franchise. Warner Bros.' Sucker Punch wasn't as lucky, grossing $19 million in a soft start for the action-fantasy. Rodrick Rules came in ahead of the original Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which opened a year ago to $22.1 million. The sequel, which cost a modest $18 million to produce, enjoyed a mammoth uptick in business on Saturday thanks to family traffic. Warners had expected Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch to clear $20 million in its opening. But the film, costing at least $75 million to produce, struggled in attracting enough younger moviegoers. Rodrick Rules drew an A- CinemaScore; Sucker Punch, a B-.

Last week's winner I Wanna Live The Dream slipped 35% to No. 3 with $13.4 million and is up to it's total of $64 million in twelve days. Holdovers Limitless and The Lincoln Lawyer both enjoyed strong holds in their second weekend, coming in No. 4 and No. 5 respectively. Limitless, a win for Relativity Media's new distribution operation, fell 19% to an estimated $15.2 million for a cume of $41.3 million in its first 10 days. Lionsgate's The Lincoln Lawyer fell 18% to an estimated $10.9 million for a cume of $28.8 million. Paramount's Rango crossed the $100 million mark over the weekend, as did Sony's Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy Just Go With It. They are the first 2011 releases to clear $100 million. Rango came in No. 5 for the weekend, falling 32% to an estimated $9.7 million for a cume of $106.3 million in fourth weekend. Among specialty openings, Julian Schnabel's controversial Miral, from the Weinstein Co., debuted to a $65,000 from four theaters for a so-so location average of $16,250. Focus Features' Jane Eyre continued to expand nicely, grossing $982,765 from 90 theaters for a cume of $1.9 million. Fox Searchlight’s Win Win, directed by Tom McCarthy, also saw a successful expansion in its second weekend. The film grossed $470,000 from 23 theaters for a theater average of $20,470 and cume of $678,720. Win Win expands next weekend into an additional 12 markets, and will be playing in a total of 130-140 theaters.