Battle at the Box Office 9/26

Not even Brad Pitt in handsome mode could topple The Lion King, continuing it’s dominating comeback with another $21.9 million and, not surprisingly, getting extended for at least another week in theaters by Disney.  Moneyball had a solid second place showing with $19.5 million, making it the second best baseball movie opening and seventh best opening for a sports movie in general.  Dolphin Tale took third place with $19.1 million.  The two battling action movies rounded out the top 5 and, unfortunately, Abduction managed to edge out Killer Elite.  Abduction made $10.9 million while Killer Elite made $9.4 million.  Abduction was definitely helped by the fact that it was PG-13 compared to Killer Elite’s R and that it got a boost from the brain dead “Team Jacob” tweens as 68% of the audience for Abduction was apparently female.  Last week’s 2-7 all slid down four places to accommodate the new arrivals.  This weekend isn’t particularly strong so I wouldn’t be surprised to see The Lion King stay on top for another week.