Weekend Box Office - Shutter Island Takes Number One

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Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

One new release wandered into theaters this weekend, and with nothing but leftover Valentine's Day chocolates and ten week old alien misadventures, it was an easy run for number one.

Apparently now that Scorsese finally has his Oscar (courtesy of his last feature film, the 2006 drama The Departed) he's ready to set aside heavy dramas and move into special effects laden dramatic mystery thrillers. And the choice paid off.

His latest offering, Shutter Island scared up over $40 million this weekend, the highest box office opening for any Scorsese flick.

Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan's latest thriller The Ghost Write saw a warm welcome in small release, banking $179,000 in just four theaters.

Former Gilmore girl Alexis Bledel didn't fare so well. Her latest venture The Good Guy with freshman filmmaker Julio DePietro opened in nine locations with only $36,000 in sales.

Remember Mitchell Lichtenstein? The guy who wrote and directed Teeth, the creepy movie about the girl who had genitals with incisors? He was back this weekend with a new movie, Happy Tears starring Parker Posey and Demi Moore. It opened in just fifteen theaters, but couldn't even raise $1,000 per screen.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:

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1.Shutter Island *$40,200,000 -Total: $40,200,000LW: N WR: 1THTRS: 2,991
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2.Valentine's Day$17,160,000 -Total: $87,422,000LW: 1 WR: 2THTRS: 3,665
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3.Avatar$16,100,000 -Total: $687,821,000LW: 4 WR: 10THTRS: 2,581
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4.Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief$15,300,000 -Total: $58,760,000LW: 3 WR: 2THTRS: 3,396
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5.The Wolfman$9,846,000 -Total: $50,315,000LW: 2 WR: 2THTRS: 3,223
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6.Dear John$7,300,000 -Total: $65,971,000LW: 5 WR: 3THTRS: 3,062
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7.Tooth Fairy$4,500,000 -Total: $49,867,000LW: 6 WR: 5THTRS: 2,523
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8.Crazy Heart$3,025,000 -Total: $21,585,000LW: 9 WR: 10THTRS: 1,089
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9.From Paris with Love$2,500,000 -Total: $21,200,000LW: 7 WR: 3THTRS: 2,311
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10.Edge of Darkness$2,210,000 -Total: $40,314,000LW: 8 WR: 4THTRS: 2,118
Scott Gwin