Arts & Entertainment

Rock flick heads up box office

Daniel R. Huron
The Daily Cougar

For the first time in three weeks, a new film has moved to the head of the box office heap.

Chris Rock's Head of State earned $14 million, causing Bringing Down the House, which grossed $12.5 million, to drop to second place. The presidential comedy marks Rock's directorial debut.

Philip Caruso/DreamWorks 

Bringing Down the House received stiff competition from another new movie, The Core. The $12.4 million it earned is good enough for third.

Basic was helped along by its reunion of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. The military thriller earned $12.1 million and a number four finish.

This year's best picture winner, Chicago, moved back into the top five with $7.42 million.

Dreamcatcher, last week's number two film, took a huge dive. The latest of Stephen King's novels to hit the big screen earned $6.36 million and a number six finish.

With $6.1 million, Agent Cody Banks has shown that it still has some legs by moving into the seventh position

Piglet's Big Movie grossed $4.6 million, good enough for the eighth spot. Not bad for what should have been a direct-to-video release.

It can't help a movie when the star of the film is bashing it. Ask Gwyneth Paltrow, star of View from the Top. The film earned $3.8 million and barely made the top ten at number nine.

And finally, this week's number 10 film is The Hunted, which grossed $3.67 million.
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