HOLLYWOOD - 8 Mile opened miles ahead of the competition, topping the chart with a record setting $54.5 million.The Santa Clause 2 fell only 15 percent, placing second with $24.8 million.
The Ring continued to show great legs, down only 11 percent in third place with $16 million.
I Spy finished fourth, holding decently with $9 million.
Jackass: The Moviewas an okay fifth with $7.2 million.
Driven by 8 Mile, key films were up nearly 17 percent from last year -- $141.6 million versus $121.4 million.
THE TOP TEN
Universal and Imagine Entertainment's R rated drama 8 Mile kicked off in first place, setting a number of records with a muscular ESTIMATED $54.46 million at 2,470 theaters ($22,050 per theater), the year's fifth biggest opening.
8 Mile's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Curtis Hanson and produced by Brian Grazer, it stars Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy and Mekhi Phifer.
"It set a record for the largest opening on its playdate," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said Sunday morning. "It's Curtis Hanson's record. It's Brian Grazer's second biggest opening -- and that's only behind $55.1 million (for) Grinch. It's the fourth largest non-holiday November opening behind Harry Potter, Monsters, Inc. and Grinch. And these are all family films. It's the largest November R rated film and the second largest R rated film (opening ever, following) Hannibal at $58 million."
Who was on hand opening weekend? "Under-25 was the audience," Rocco explained. "There's no question this is a film (people) under 25 are going to embrace on opening weekend. 69 percent was under 25. That's not to say there weren't some adults that sampled it -- 31 percent was over the age of 25. We knew we would (reach the young audience) because the main reason for wanting to come see 8 Mile was Eminem. It also drew a slightly more female audience -- 53 percent of the audience was female. It was very ethnically mixed across all quadrants -- Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Other. (These are) all great signs."
The studio's exit polls showed that 86 percent of the opening weekend audience rated 8 Mile in the Top Two Boxes (excellent and very good).
Asked if Universal will go wider with the film, Rocco noted, "We'll see tomorrow (Monday). This is not about numbers of playdates. If there are theaters that can support opening the film and playing through Thanksgiving, I will consider it. This is not about numbers. I think the story is that it's not necessary to be in over 3,000 playdates to launch a film of this magnitude.
"I think we were very smart covering as many markets in North America as we could, not over saturating the markets and making sure these theaters were amply covered with additional prints so they had enough seats. More (theaters) is not necessarily better. We were in 2,470 playdates, but we also had over 3,900 screens. We made sure there were an ample number of seats (to accommodate audiences)."
