Stallone Behind the Wheel of a Winner

In auto-racing terms, Sylvester Stallone got the checkered flag, Warren Beatty careened into the wall and “One Night at McCool’s” never made it out of the pits.

The winner of this week’s box-office race was “Driven,” a story set in the fast-paced world of open-wheel auto racing, written by and starring aging action hero Stallone.

The Renny Harlin-directed film grossed $12.2 million to easily outdistance the romantic comedy “Bridget Jones’s Diary” with $7.5 million.

Although the numbers for “Driven” pale in comparison to Stallone’s heyday in “Rambo” and “Rocky,” he once again wins bragging rights with this weekend’s first-place finish.

“Some people might have expected the Stallone of old, but the marketplace as a whole is sort of depressed right now,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co.

The big wreck on the track was “Town & Country,” New Line Cinema’s much-delayed $85-million romantic comedy starring Beatty, which grossed only $3 million. The new Screen Gems film, “The Forsaken,” debuted with $3 million.

“One Night at McCool’s” grossed $2.5 million, but couldn’t break into the top 10.

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Three-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Driven” $12.2 2,905 1 (Warner Bros.) $12.2 $4,191 2. “Bridget Jones’s Diary” $7.5 2,532 3 (Miramax) $36.3 $2,973 3. “Spy Kids” $5.8 3,105 5 (Dimension) $93.7 $1,863 4. “Along Came a Spider” $5.6 2,573 4 (Paramount) $54.7 $2,178 5. “Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles” $4.7 2,124 2 (Paramount) $13.9 $2,194 6. “Blow” $3.4 1,713 4 (New Line) $40.5 $1,958 7. “Town & Country” $3.03 2,222 1 (New Line) $3.03 $1,364 8. “The Forsaken” $3.02 1,514 1 (Sony/Screen Gems) $3.02 $1,995 9. “Joe Dirt” $2.7 2,484 3 (Sony/Columbia) $22.7 $1,091 10.”Freddy Got Fingered” $2.523 2,269 2 (Fox) $11.3 $1,112 “One Night at McCool’s” $2.520 1,818 1 (USA Films) $2.520 $1,386

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.