“The Roomate” tops weekend box office!

Do you remember your first college roommate?

The poor guy who roomed with me at Olmeca Hall my first semester at SDSU was nice enough but we had no chemistry and were never friends. The next semester he moved to his fraternity house and I moved down the hall with one of my best friends.

I’m just glad neither of those guys were psychos like Leighton Meester in this weekend’s top movie The Roommate which grossed an estimated $15.6 million in its first three days, according to Hollywood.com.

Writes Hollywoodcom’s Paul Dergarabedian: Having appeal for the female audience in particular, this variation on Single White Female set in a college dormitory proved to be a counter-programming draw for those looking for a sanctuary from the football madness going on at home and gives Screen Gems yet another profit-maker.

In second place was the weekend’s other new wide release Sanctum which took in an estimated $9.2 million with 17 percent of its gross coming from IMAX screens.

Last weekend’s number one movie, The Rite starring Anthony Hopkins, took a hard tumble all the way down to number six. It managed just $5.5 million – a 62 percent drop in business – for a two-week total of $23.7 million.

Faring far better is the Ashton Kutcher-Natalie Portman romantic comedy No Strings Attached which finished in third place earning an estimated $8.4 million for a three-week total of $51.8 million.

The King’s Speech, widely seen as the front-runner to take home the best picture Oscar, has turned out to be a big hit which means many of the viewers of the Oscar telecast will have actually heard of it! In its 11th week in theaters, the film took in an estimated $8.3 million for fourth place and has earned $84.1 million to date.

Rounding out the top five is The Green Hornet which is fading fast but managed to gross an estimated $6.1 million in its fourth weekend for an overall gross of $87.2 million.

GREG’S PICK: I finally got around to seeing The Fighter this weekend which I can promise you is superb. A best picture nominee, this movie is so well-acted by the entire cast that I am stunned it did not take home the Screen Actors Guild Award last weekend for best ensemble.

But the staggeringly good Melissa Leo and Christian Bale did win SAG Awards (and Golden Globes) and have to be considered front-runners to win well-deserved Academy Awards. They are both so very good as are Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams.

Anyway, The Fighter dropped out of the top 10 in its ninth week in theaters finishing in 11th place. The boxing drama added $2.9 million for an overall gross of $82.5 million.