BOX OFFICE

‘DRAGON’ SLAYER

Is the glass of Chianti half full or half empty? On the one hand, Red Dragon roared to $36.5 million and broke the all-time record for an October opening. On the other, its debut came up more than $20 million short of the last Lecter outing, 2001’s Hannibal. Either way, Reese Witherspoon played beauty to the beast, as Sweet Home Alabama pocketed another $21.3 million. And proving that what America really wants in these troubled times is talking vegetables, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie sprouted at No. 6. Finally, say salud to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which just passed The Blair Witch Project as the highest-grossing indie of all time.

TOP 20 WEEKEND NO. OF WEEKEND WEEKS GROSS GROSS* SITES[1] PER-SITE IN TO AVERAGE RELEASE DATE

1 RED DRAGON Universal $36.5 3,357 $10,885 1 $36.5 2 SWEET HOME ALABAMA Touchstone $21.3 3,303 $6,456 2 $65.3 3 THE TUXEDO DreamWorks $10.0 3,022 $3,321 2 $28.0 4 MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING IFC $8.2 1,971 $4,172 25 $147.7 5 BARBERSHOP MGM $6.6 2,176 $3,049 4 $60.0 6 JONAH: A VEGGIETALES MOVIE Artisan $6.2 940 $6,597 1 $6.2 7 THE BANGER SISTERS Fox Searchlight $3.5 2,532 $1,376 3 $24.3 8 THE FOUR FEATHERS Paramount/Miramax $2.1 2,187 $941 3 $15.5 9 MOONLIGHT MILE Touchstone $1.9 434 $4,338 2 $2.3 10 ONE HOUR PHOTO Fox Searchlight $1.7 1,261 $1,375 7 $28.8 11 SIGNS Touchstone $1.7 1,537 $1,075 10 $223.4 12 SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS Dimension $1.3 2,205 $576 9 $83.0 13 BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER Warner Bros. $1.0 1,507 $670 3 $13.5 14 SWIMFAN 20th Century Fox $0.7 1,108 $660 5 $27.8 15 SPIRITED AWAY Disney $0.6 97 $6,299 3 $1.9 16 STEALING HARVARD Columbia $0.6 1,155 $526 4 $13.7 17 XXX Columbia $0.5 841 $640 9 $140.6 18 IGBY GOES DOWN United Artists $0.5 147 $3,241 4 $2.7 19 TRAPPED Columbia $0.4 1,043 $413 3 $6.7 20 SECRETARY Lions Gate $0.4 106 $3,729 3 $1.2

SOURCE: NIELSEN EDI. WEEKEND OF OCT. 4-6 *WEEKEND GROSS AND GROSS-TO-DATE FIGURES IN MILLIONS [1]INCLUDES SOME MULTISCREEN THEATERS AND PRINTS SHIPPED AS WELL AS INDIVIDUAL SCREENS