Here's Looking At You Kid

The Rear Window (1954) like thriller Disturbia took the top spot at the box office this past weekend--taking out some hefty competition in the process.

Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo:

In a crowd of new releases, Disturbia grossed an estimated $23 million while the rest failed...

Shia LaBeouf Kicks Back-Celebrating Disturbia's Victory

Ian Mohr of Variety:

Over a free-for-all weekend at the multiplexes, Paramount/DreamWorks' PG-13 thriller "Disturbia" was tops, taking in $23 million in its debut.

Holdovers "Blades of Glory" and "Meet the Robinsons" took the second and third spots on the weekend chart.

And after a disappointing opening the previous frame, "Grindhouse," the Weinstein Co.'s experimental double bill from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, plunged 63% in its second weekend. The three-hour-plus gorefest's per-theater average was just $1,612 in 2,629 playdates.

"Disturbia"... made most of its money from young auds and the female fans who tend to turn out for PG-rated pics with scares.

Par/Dreamworks claimed the No. 1 and 2 pics on the weekend, the second time that phenomenon has happened this year for a studio, according to Nielsen EDI, after Warners finished with a one-two punch in March of "TMNT" and "300."

The other, mostly R-rated, openers largely stumbled.

Sony's racy thriller "Perfect Stranger" bowed in fourth place with $11.5 million. Pic stars Halle Berry as an investigative journo snooping into the high-powered world of a suspected murderer, played by Bruce Willis.

But older female auds usually take time to turn out for pics, and Sony was encouraged by successful international launches for "Strangers" over the frame.

Fox's "Pathfinder" -- an epic about Vikings battling Native Americans, which didn't go out as widely as the other new studio releases -- grossed $4.8 million. Pic didn't have the same buzz as Warner Bros.' violent fantasy pic, "300," which is still reaping major moolah.

Lions gate's "Slow Burn," meantime, an ensemble crime pic starring Ray Liotta and rapper-actor LL Cool J, was anything but hot, taking in just $800,000 from 1,163 theaters for a paltry per-screen average of $688.

Overall, B.O. in the U.S. and Canada was down, as the top 10 pics combined for $12.2 million less than they did the previous weekend...

The complete article can be found here

Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly:

On a crowded weekend, there's good news (a $23 mil debut) for young Mr. LaBeouf (''Disturbia''), and bad news for Halle Berry and Bruce Willis (''Perfect Stranger'') Read More...

I thought for sure that the team of Halle Berry and Bruce Willis in the thriller Perfect Stranger would have done better to take the top spot. What a weekend for LaBeouf huh? First he lands a role in the long awaited Indiana Jones. sequel...And now, he stars in the nation's top flick. Not bad for an actor who is just shy of turning 21 years old.