Tyler Perry's "Madea Goes to Jail" was the top film in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend, opening with $41.1 million in sales for Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, Bloomberg reported.
The comedy displaced "Friday the 13th." The horror film dropped to sixth with $7.83 million, researcher Media By Numbers LLC said today in an e-mailed statement. The weekend's other new film, the teen comedy "Fired Up!," opened in ninth place, taking in $6 million.
"Madea Goes to Jail" stars Perry in drag as the outspoken family matriarch. The movie is Perry's seventh, all distributed by Lions Gate.
The weekend tallies include estimates for today's sales. Final results, to be announced tomorrow, may be hurt by tonight's telecast of the Academy Awards on ABC, Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, said in an interview. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is scheduled to announce Oscar winners at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
"Sunday night movie buffs are going to be glued to their televisions," Dergarabedian said. "It's sort of like the Super Bowl factor. If people are at home watching the Oscars they're not at the movies."
In "Madea Goes to Jail," Perry's character is incarcerated after leading police on a freeway chase. In jail, she befriends a young inmate. The movie co-stars Derek Luke and Keshia Knight Pulliam. Perry also wrote, directed and co- produced the film.
"Taken," a thriller starring Liam Neeson, finished second with $11.4 million after placing third a week ago. Neeson plays a former CIA operative whose daughter is abducted. The film is from News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox.
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