Zack Snyder's comic book adaptation about a team of twisted superheros, meaning “Watchmen,” is officially the biggest box office opening of 2009 so far. Zack Snyder's movie clocked in with $55.7 million in ticket sales to claim the top spot at the box office, therefore debuting on the first position as fa ar this weekend is concerned.

The much-anticipated adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel of the same name cements the draw of director Zack Snyder, who also directed the hit "300." Although there was some industry expectation that it would do so, "Watchmen" fell short of matching the $70.9 million that "300" took in during its opening weekend in March 2007.

In other words, 2007’s “300,” in total grosses. The Spartan smash broke records when it posted the biggest March opening weekend ever at $70.9 million and went on to earn over $210 million in domestic receipts, according to Hollywood.com.
Elsewhere -- yes, there were other movies playing at the multiplex this weekend! -- a number of films continued to do hit the bull’s eye again and again. Tyler Perry's "Madea Goes to Jail" that occupied the second positon, grossed $8.8 million on its third weekend; the film, Perry's biggest yet at the box office, has banked $76.5 million to date.

In the meantome, Fox's unstoppable Liam Neeson thriller "Taken" rose one place to Number 3 with $7.5 million in its sixth weekend. It has earned $118 million to date.

Best Picture winner "Slumdog Millionaire" (Number 4) was next with $6.9 million, which boosted its domestic haul to $125.4 million. And "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" (Number 5) took its eight-week total to $133.6 million thanks to another $4.2 million gross.
Disney’s “The Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience,” last week’s Number 2, dropped sharply to only around $2.8 million in ticket sales, after opening to a less-than-expected $12.5 million in business last weekend. "There have been some casualties this year," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. "Not every film can be a hit — even during this box-office bonanza we're having right now. It dropped about 78 percent the second weekend. It's a young audience. The ones that wanted to see the Jonas Brothers came out last weekend."

Overall, ticket sales for the top 12 films over the weekend reached roughly $103 million, up 18 percent from about $87.2 million for the same weekend last year, when the number one film was “10,000 B.C.,” with $35.9 million in ticket sales, according Media By Numbers, a box-office tracking service.

For the year to date, Hollywood’s total domestic ticket sales reached $1.9 billion, up 16.5 percent over 2008, according to Media By Numbers. Theater admissions were up about 15 percent. Since Christmas, the U. S. box-office has been unusually strong, as viewers have flocked to crowd-pleasers like “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” and “He’s Just Not That Into You.”