‘Me, Myself’ Is Farrellys’ Best Start

The new Jim Carrey gross-out comedy “Me, Myself & Irene” debuted at No. 1 over the weekend with $24.2 million in ticket sales. It was the best opening ever for a Farrelly brothers’ comedy--”Dumb and Dumber” debuted with $16.4 million in 1994--but only Carrey’s fifth-best opening.

“ ‘Me, Myself & Irene’ opened well, considering it was an R-rated comedy,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co.

Meanwhile, the new animated adventure comedy “Chicken Run” had a promising start, bowing in second place with $17.5 million, the best debut of a DreamWorks animated film. The 1998 film “Antz” opened with $17.2 million. “Chicken Run” is from Aardman Studios in Britain, best known for the Oscar-winning “Wallace and Gromit” shorts.

Overall, though, the total box office continued to decline for the third straight weekend, with the top dozen films faring 23% poorer than in the same weekend last year.

* “Boricua’s Bond” opened in limited release.

Weekend Box Office

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Three-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Me, Myself & Irene” $24.2 3,019 1 (Fox) $24.2 $8,019 2. “Chicken Run” $17.5 2,491 1 (DreamWorks) $17.6 $7,028 3. “Shaft” $12.7 2,407 2 (Paramount) $42.4 $5,280 4. “Gone in 60 Seconds” $9.5 3,089 3 (Disney/Touchstone) $68.9 $3,060 5. “Big Momma’s House” $8.5 2,846 4 (Fox) $85.2 $3,004 6. “M:I-2” $7.6 3,245 5 (Paramount) $188.9 $2,338 7. “Gladiator” $3.9 1,812 8 (DreamWorks) $165.4 $2,126 8. “Titan A.E.” $3.7 2,775 2 (Fox) $16.9 $1,346 9. “Dinosaur” $3.3 2,248 6 (Disney) $126.8 $1,449 10. “Boys and Girls” $3.2 1,989 2 (Miramax) $14.2 $1,624 * “Boricua’s Bond” $54,289 24 1 (USA Films) $71,046 $2,262

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.