Monsters' Ball

You may not have taken the barbecue grill out of the garage yet, but summer officially started this weekend with the blockbuster opening of ''Van Helsing.'' Hugh Jackman's creature feature raked in a monstrous $54.2 million in North America over the weekend, according to studio estimates. Distributor Universal said the film took in an additional $53 million overseas.

Last week's champ, ''Mean Girls,'' fell to second place this weekend with $14 million. Denzel Washington's thriller ''Man on Fire'' was third with $7.9 million. Rounding out the top five was Jennifer Garner's teen comedy ''13 Going on 30,'' earning $5.5 million going on $42.6 million after three weeks in theaters.

The only teen-girl comedy that didn't do as well as expected was the weekend's other much-hyped debut, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's ''New York Minute,'' which settled for a fourth-place finish with just $6.2 million. Though it was the teen twins' first theatrical feature in years, its weak opening means it'll probably flee theaters to join the girls' other recent films on video in a New... well, you know.

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