Ben Affleck almost got ''School''-ed at the box office

Ben Affleck’s “Daredevil” needed some superpowers to fend off Will Ferrell and his “Old School” buddies at movie theaters this weekend, as “Daredevil” barely held on to the top spot at the box office.

“Daredevil” grossed another $18.9 million, down a discouraging 53 percent from the three-day portion of last week’s holiday weekend. Though the film, which also stars Jennifer Garner, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Colin Farrell, has earned over $70 million after 10 days, a drop that large doesn’t bode well for its future.

“Daredevil”’s decline meant that “Old School” came quite close to becoming the No. 1 film in the country. Instead, the comedy starring Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Luke Wilson placed second with a strong $17.5 million. In fact, “Old School” did top “Daredevil” on Friday by a margin of $800,000.

The rest of the top five slots went to returning films. The nicely-performing Kate Hudson romance “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” slipped 37 percent to $11.9 million, bringing its total to $64.9 million, while “The Jungle Book 2” fell only 25 percent to $8.6 million, putting it just ahead of “Chicago” with $8.5 million. The award-winning musical has now earned a fantastic $94.4 million.

The week’s three other new wide releases opened outside the top five. The Kevin Spacey drama “The Life of David Gale” placed sixth with $7.2 million, while the four-hour Civil War epic “Gods and Generals” managed an eighth-place debut with $4.8 million. But the big loser was the well-reviewed Kurt Russell cop drama “Dark Blue,” which flopped with only $3.8 million. Next time, Russell should cast his step-daughter, Kate Hudson.