bwaaa-hahahahaha!

Homer Rakes in the D'oh; Lindsay Doesn't
Sun Jul 29, 11:11 AM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - The latest season of The Simpsons was solid. The opening weekend of The Simpsons Movie was huge.

Lindsay Lohan's new movie wasn't. Solid, huge or much of anything.

That Lohan's new vehicle sputtered was no surprise. That Homer and Marge's new set of wheels got off to such a fast start wasn't, either.

The much-marketed, well-reviewed Simpsons Movie socked away $71.9 million, dominating the weekend box-office competition, per Exhibitor Relations Co. estimates Sunday.

The performance marked the third-biggest opening for an animated movie, behind Shrek the Third and Shrek 2, and, for those who love minutia within minutia, the all-time biggest opening for a traditional, 2D-animated movie. (The Shreks of the world are considered works of new-fangled 3D animation.)

An even-more offbeat, but perhaps more telling factoid: If every current viewer of the ultra-long-running Fox comedy (it averaged 8.9 million devotees last season) bought a movie ticket this weekend (at, say, 2006's average price of $6.55), The Simpsons Movie "only" would have grossed $58.3 million.

A Fox executive didn't argue that The Simpsons Movie drew in fans beyond The Simpsons TV show.

"I think there's no question of that," Chris Aronson, Fox senior vice president of distribution, said on Sunday. "...What we found is we had extraordinary family play."

The way Aronson sees it, The Simpsons Movie also tapped into the franchise's large well of lapsed Simpsons fans--people who watched the TV series in 1996, say, but not 2006.

"Eighteen years is a long time to watch a TV series," Aronson said.

Springfield's finest--Homer, Marge and jaundiced charges--have been TV stars on Fox since 1989--or 1987, if you count their early, formative years as fillers on The Tracey Ullman Show. The Simpsons is due to embark on its 19th season this fall.

The success of The Simpsons Movie meant a demotion for last weekend's champ, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (second place, $19.1 million; $71.6 million overall). Still, the Adam Sandler-Kevin James comedy held up better than most in these short-attention-span days, with business down only 44 percent this weekend from last.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (third place, $17.1 million; $241.8 million overall), Hairspray (fourth place, $15.6 million; $59.3 million overall) and Transformers (sixth place, $11.5 million; $284.6 million overall) each added to its respective take with another eight-digit weekend.

No Reservations, the Catherine Zeta-Jones-Aaron Eckhart romantic kitchen comedy, did better than its lousy reviews might have portended. This is not to say the movie did well, but with an $11.8 million opening (fifth place), it did about as much (or little) as romantic comedies of any setting are doing this year. Its debut was smaller than Music and Lyrics's and Because I Said So's; it was bigger than License to Wed's.

Speaking of License to Wed, there's not much to say. In its fourth weekend, the Robin Williams experience fell out of the Top 10 ($1.3 million), having huffed and puffed all the way to a $41.7 million cumulative haul.

Also falling out of the Top 10: 1408 ($1.2 million, per Box Office Mojo), which leaves after a respectable, six-week, $70 million-grossing run; Knocked Up ($1.2 million), which leaves after an admirable, nine-week, $145.1 million-grossing run; and, Evan Almighty ($1.1 million; $96.3 million overall), which leaves before anyone can make anymore snide remarks at its expensive expense.

In a couple of days or so, I Know Who Killed Me will like, Evan Almighty, have slipped from sight. But for now, the Lohan thriller is fair game.

Opening three days after its star was busted for DUI and cocaine possession a grand sum of 11 days after checking out rehab, the movie "grossed" $3.4 million (ninth place), the weakest debut of Lohan's nearly 10-year film career, save for 2006's Bobby, which opened at only two theaters, according to Box Office Mojo stats.

Lohan's bad box-office run began last year with the, as it turned out, the inaptly titled comedy Just My Luck, and coincided with bad press concerning her off-screen bouts of dehydration and other maladies.

If it'll make Lohan feel any better, I Know Who Killed Me did manage to fend off the new comedy Who's Your Caddy? (10th place, $2.9 million), which all things considered did very well for a movie that somebody decided, after careful consideration, to name Who's Your Caddy?

On the art-house scene, the new Queen Latifah-narrated documentary Artic Tale ($20,555 at four theaters) was no March of the Penguins, which scooted off with $137,492 also at just four theaters in 2005, per Box Office Mojo.

A much bigger draw was the Iraq War doc No End in Sight ($31,500 at two theaters), which sold more tickets, per site, than any movie other than The Simpsons Movie.

For one weekend, at least, Homer couldn't lose.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

• The Simpsons Movie, $71.9 million • I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, $19.1 million • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, $17.1 million • Hairspray, $15.6 million • No Reservations, $11.8 million • Transformers, $11.5 million • Ratatouille, $7.2 million • Live Free or Die Hard, $5.4 million • I Know Who Killed Me, $3.4 million • Who's Your Caddy?, $2.9 million