Weekend Box Office

‘Scorpion’ Retains Rock-Solid Lead

Universal’s action-adventure yarn “The Scorpion King,” starring pro wrestling muscleman the Rock, again trounced the competition, taking in $18 million to remain No. 1 for the second week in a row.

The tense urban drama “Changing Lanes” grossed $9 million for second place, a drop of only 19% for a film now in its third week in release.

*--* Weekend Box Office Movie Three-day Screens/ Average Weeks in release (Studio) gross/ Total (millions) 1 “The Scorpion $18.0 3,449 2 King” (Universal) $61.3 $5,230 2 “Changing Lanes” $9.0 2,642 3 (Paramount) $44.6 $3,410 3 “Jason X” $6.6 1,878 1 (New Line) $6.6 $3,540 4 “Murder by $6.4 2,663 2 Numbers” (Warner $18.4 $2,389 Bros.) 5 “Life or $6.2 2,606 1 Something Like It” (Fox) $6.2 $2,387 6 “The Rookie” $5.6 2,543 5 (Disney) $60.8 $2,205 7 “Ice Age” $5.0 2,594 7 (Fox) $165.8 $1,936 8 “Panic Room” $4.2 2,463 5 (Sony/Columb $87.7 $1,709 ia) 9 “High Crimes” $3.1 2,054 4 (Fox) $35.1 $1,515 10 “The Sweetest $2.9 2,124 3 Thing” (Sony/Columb $21.3 $1,367 ia) Source: Exhibitor Relations Co

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Two new films didn’t fare so well. The horror film “Jason X” debuted in third place with $6.6 million, while the romantic comedy “Life or Something Like It,” starring Angelina Jolie, opened in fifth place with $6.2 million.

Meanwhile, year-to-date box-office revenues are up about 15% over last year, and the number of tickets sold is up almost 12%, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co.