'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' Sits, Stays at No. 1

Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, and Ridley Scott just got beaten by a dog. Arf! Beverly Hills Chihuahua repeated at No. 1 on a weekend that saw the hugely disappointing premiere of the spy thriller Body of Lies, a better than anticipated opening from the horror flick Quarantine, and a handful of other weak debuts.

America's favorite pooch barked up (hey, folks, you make the movie a winner, I write the puns, that's how it works) another $17.5 million on a mere 40 percent drop. That brings the canine comedy's two-week total to an impressive $52.5 mil. Credit this time goes to Monday's Columbus Day holiday, which is giving tons of schoolchildren around the nation the day off, which in turn boosts the weekend box office. Kids, as I've said so many times before, rule.

Then again, credit for Chihuahua's second straight win can also go to the fact that most of the other movies in the multiplex underperformed. Best among them was the R-rated Quarantine (No. 2), which spooked audiences into ponying up a cool $14.2 mil. The film's per-theater average was a middling $5,770, sure (and its CinemaScore review from theatergoers was a woeful C), but its first-weekend sum certainly was great for a movie with a reported production budget of just $12 mil. And things went downhill fast from there.

The big-budget Body of Lies managed a mere No. 3 finish despite great expectations. I mean, especially considering the A-list talent involved (and did I mention they were competing against a dog?), this is a huge disappointment. Yet another geopolitically themed film to fail to attract audiences, the movie grossed just $13.1 mil. That sum is similar to the low-eight-figure premieres of DiCaprio's The Beach, Crowe's Proof of Life, and Scott's Matchstick Men — none of the best-remembered endeavors from these guys. Said releases all eventually topped out in the $30 mil range, which looks likely for Body of Lies as well, considering it drew a not-so-good B- CinemaScore mark.

Next came Eagle Eye (No. 4) with $11 mil. The action flick has banked a sweet $70.6 mil in three weeks, and its total should soon pass the $80.2 mil final gross of Disturbia, the previous union of star Shia LaBeouf and director D.J. Caruso. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist brought in another $6.5 mil to round out the top five. The football drama The Express, which also had high hopes for the weekend, bowed at No. 6 with a disappointing $4.7 mil (and that's despite a stellar A CinemaScore review). And the other big opener, the family flick City of Ember, failed to spark with just $3.2 mil, way down at No. 10.

Better news came on the indie scene, where two Brit pics — Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla and Mike Leigh's Happy Go Lucky — scored averages in excess of $20,000 per theater.

And, in actual fact, the overall box office was up nearly 6 percent from the same frame a year ago (when Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? was the winner), making this the third consecutive ''up'' weekend at the multiplex. Why, thank you, Chihuahua.

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