Coen Brothers Score First #1 Hit

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Burn After Reading," a screwball spy comedy from Oscar-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, fired up the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, helping overall sales rebound from the five-year low plumbed a week earlier.

"Burn," whose cast includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt and John Malkovich, opened at No. 1 after selling an estimated $19.4 million worth of tickets across the United States and Canada, distributor Focus Features said.

The three-day tally set a new record both for the Coens and for Focus, the arthouse arm of General Electric Co's NBC Universal unit. It also represents the first No. 1 for Focus. The brothers' previous best was "Ladykillers" with a $12.6 million opening in 2004.

Three other new releases followed, all within their respective studios' expectations: prolific filmmaker Tyler Perry's latest domestic saga "The Family That Preys" at No. 2 with $18 million; the Robert De Niro-Al Pacino cop drama "Righteous Kill" at No. 3 with $16.5 million; and a critically maligned remake of the 1939 distaff drama "The Women" at No. 4 with $10.1 million.

Critics were hardly more enthused about the other new releases, including "Burn After Reading," the Coens' first release since they won the best picture Oscar in February for the Texan drama "No Country For Old Men."

#	Title	Sep 12 - 14				Weeks		Cumulative	Distributor
1	Burn After Reading	$ 19,404,000				1		$ 19,404,000	Focus
2	The Family That Preys	18,020,000				1		18,020,000	Lionsgate
3	Righteous Kill	16,500,000				1		16,500,000	Overture
4	The Women	10,090,000				1		10,090,000	Picturehouse
5	The House Bunny	4,300,000				4		42,154,000	Sony
6	Tropic Thunder	4,180,000				5		102,971,000	Paramount
7	The Dark Knight	4,010,000				9		517,675,000	Warner Bros.
8	Bangkok Dangerous	2,400,000				2		12,531,000	Lionsgate
9	Traitor	2,132,000				3		20,735,000	Overture
10	Death Race	2,020,000				4		33,196,000	Universal