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Facebook movie finds friends at box offices

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CIOL Bureau
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LOS ANGELES, USA: Facebook movie 'The Social Network' found millions of friends in theaters during the weekend, taking in $23 million and earning the No. 1 spot at box offices, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

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The movie, which tells of the founding of the popular social networking website, played in just under 2,800 U.S. and Canadian theaters for a per-theater average of around $8,300, a solid number compared to its rivals.

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"It's a terrific start for a terrific film," said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for the film's studio, Columbia Pictures.

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Indeed, the movie from director David Fincher has earned wide praise from critics, scoring a 97 percent positive rating on website rottentomatoes.com, which ranks films after compiling reviews.

Columbia hopes "Social Network" may even compete for this year's Oscars, and a solid start at box offices will go a long way toward boosting its prospects for awards.

Based on positive buzz and a crush of publicity, some box office watchers thought its debut weekend ticket sales might eclipse the $25 million mark, but Columbia guided expectations to around $20 million because "Social Network" is a drama aimed at adults, who do not always turn out on opening weekends.

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Columbia said women made up about 53 percent of the audience, while adults 25 years old and over were about 55 percent of those in theaters.

Best of the rest

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Landing at No. 2, where it debuted one week ago, was family film "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," with $10.8 million in revenue from nearly 3,600 venues for a per-theater average of about $3,000.

Dropping two places to No. 3 was last week's champ, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," with $10.1 million. The Oliver Stone-directed sequel to 1987 hit "Wall Street" has sold nearly $36 million worth of tickets in two weeks for its distributor, Twentieth Century Fox.

But close behind was thriller "The Town," starring Ben Affleck, with $10 million, pushing its three-week cumulative ticket sales to just over $64 million.

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Rounding out the top five was low-budget comedy "Easy A" with $7 million helping boost its total to $42 million.

Last week's No. 5 movie, "You Again," slipped to No. 6 with $5.6 million, and a pair of new entries, "Case 39" and "Let Me In," opened to modest business in the sixth and seventh spots, respectively. "Case 39" took in $5.4 million and horror "Let Me In" had $5.3 million.

Finally, the No. 9 spot was held by "Devil" with $3.7 million, and at No. 10 was "Alpha and Omega" with $3 million.

"Social Network" was released by Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is owned by Sony Corp. "Legend of the Guardians" and "The Town" were released by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, a division of News Corp., and "Easy A" was released by Screen Gems, also a Sony division.

"Let Me In" was released by Overture Films, a unit of Liberty Media Corp and "Case 39" by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. "You Again" was released by Touchstone Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co. "Devil" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co's NBC Universal, and "Alpha and Omega" was released by Lions Gate.

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