'Sahara' Takes Over New Number One At Box Office!

Paramount Pictures action-adventure film Sahara, starring Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn and Penelope Cruz, topped the box office with an estimated $18.5 million from 3,154 theaters. The $130 million-budgeted feature averaged $5,865 per theater.

Dimension Films' Sin City, directed by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino, dropped 51.5% in ticket sales for the graphic novel adaptation's second weekend, making $14.1 million for a total of $50.7 million and second place. The movie cost just $40 million to make.

Third place belonged to newcomer Fever Pitch, directed by the Farrelly brothers and starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon. The comedy earned $13 million from 3,267 locations for an average of $3,979.

Sony's Guess Who added $7.1 million from 3,064 theaters in its third week and has collected $51.1 million, while Queen Latifah's Beauty Shop also earned $7.1 million from 2,659 theaters. The latter has made $26.4 million in two weeks.

20th Century Fox's Robots assembled $4.7 million in its fifth week for the sixth spot and a total of $111 million. The CG animated comedy cost about $75 million to produce. Disney's The Pacifier, starring Vin Diesel, also continued to perform well in its sixth weekend. The family comedy crossed the $100 million mark with another $3 million.

In limited release, Stephen Chow's action-comedy Kung Fu Hustle earned $293,000 from just seven theaters for an impressive per-theater average of $41,857.

1 Sahara
2 Sin City
3 Fever Pitch
4 Guess Who
5 Beauty Shop
6 Robots
7 Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
8 The Pacifier
9 The Ring Two
10 The Upside of Anger
11 Hitch
12 Ice Princess