With the Super Bowl siphoning off a good chunk of moviegoers—and the bitter temperatures in some areas finishing the job—the weekend box office dropped off as expected, but that didn't stop the two new releases from hobbling their way into the top slots. The not-screened-for-critics horror film The Messengers edged out the shouldn't-have-been-screened-for-critics romantic comedy Because I Said So for first place with a $14.5 million take, proving that reheated J-horror/Sixth Sense ripoffs are still raging against the dying of the light. Because I Said So raked in $13 million, but if it's anything like last week's tepid rom-com Catch & Release—which dropped a whopping 64% from its first week totals—it's not likely to have much staying power. Also experiencing a precipitous drop-off was Epic Movie, which took under 45% of last weekend's bounty for third place and $8.2 million.
Things will undoubtedly get more exciting this week when the atomic bomb that is Norbit drops on theaters nationwide. Friday can't come soon enough!
More detailed numbers at Box Office Mojo.