Gran Torino Drives into First Place

Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood may have gone 0-for-2 at the Golden Globes Sunday night, but he can take solace in the fact that he has the No. 1 movie in America.
Gran Torino, in which he starred and directed, easily cruised into the top spot over the weekend with $29 million in its first weekend in wide release.
The debut intake trumps Eastwood's previous personal best of $18 million for 2000's Space Cowboys.
Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson's Bride Wars proved to be a bridesmaid, opening in second with $21.5 million, edging out horror flick The Unborn ($21.1 million).
The weekend's other new release, Not Easily Broken, floundered at No. 9 with $5.6 million.
After being top dog for two consecutive weekends, Marley & Me dropped to the fourth spot with $11.4 million, bringing its total to $124 million.
Nipping at Marley's (and Jennifer Aniston's) heels, just as it has been the past two weeks, was Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ($9.4 million). The sprawling epic is now $6 million shy of the $100 million mark.
Rounding out the top 10 were Bedtime Stories (No. 6, $8.6 million), Valkyrie (No. 7, $6.7 million), Yes Man (No. 8, $6.2 million) and Seven Pounds (No. 10, $3.9 million).
Golden Globe drama picture champ Slumdog Millionaire just missed the top 10 at No. 11 with $3.7 million. Its total now sits at $34 million.