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Clint Eastwood set a new personal best at the North American box office Sunday as "Gran Torino" sped to No. 1, hoping to grab the attention of Oscar voters a day before nominations ballots are due.
The light drama, in which the 78-year-old actor/director plays a grumpy old man who takes on some neighborhood thugs Dirty Harry-style, earned $29 million during the three days beginning Friday, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said.
Eastwood's previous best weekend was "Space Cowboys" with $18 million in 2000.
It was the first weekend that "Gran Torino" was in wide release across the United States and Canada. It spent the past four weekends in fewer than 100 theaters and has earned $40.1 million to date.
Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, hopes "Gran Torino" will score with Oscar voters even though it has largely been ignored by other awards groups. Ballots must be received by the close of business on Monday, and nominations will be announced Jan. 22, a month before the awards ceremony takes place in Hollywood.
Another potential influence on Oscar voters is the Golden Globe Awards, which will kick off later Sunday in Beverly Hills at 8 p.m. EST. The top Globe contenders are "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Doubt" and "Frost/Nixon," with five nominations each. "Gran Torino" received one, for original song.
"Benjamin Button" is the only one in the Top 10, falling two places to No. 5 with $9.5 million in its third weekend. The total for the Paramount Pictures rose to $94.3 million. Brad Pitt stars as a man who ages backwards.
Miramax Films' Catholic drama "Doubt" has earned $23 million after five weekends, and Universal Pictures' journalism drama "Frost/Nixon" $7.7 million after six.
The No. 2 movie at the weekend box office was the 20th Century Fox comedy "Bride Wars," starring Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson, with $21.5 million in its first weekend.
Also new were the Rogue Pictures/Universal Pictures supernatural thriller "The Unborn" at No. 3 with $21.1 million, and TriStar Pictures' faith-themed drama "Not Easily Broken" at No. 9 with $5.6 million. Their respective studios said the openings exceeded expectations.
After two weekends at No. 1, Fox's canine saga "Marley & Me" fell to No. 4 with $11.4 million. The film, starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, has earned $123.7 million to date.
Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom [VIA
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Universal is a unit of CNBC.com-parent General Electric's [GE
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Miramax is a unit of Walt Disney [DIS
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Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes