Moviegoers were ‘Obsessed’ over the weekend

“Obsessed” captivated the domestic boxoffice over its first weekend as the Beyonce Knowles-Idris Elba starrer proved more dominant than expected with an estimated $28.5 million.

Three other wide openers saw mixed results. Universal’s bare-knuckled brawling drama “Fighting” debuted about as expected with $11.4 million in second place, while Paramount’s DreamWorks-produced drama “The Soloist” — in which Robert Downey Jr. plays L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez — registered a light $9.7 million in fourth place. And the first Disney Nature documentary “Earth,” narrated by James Earl Jones, fetched a pleasing $8.6 million in fifth place with a $14.2 million cume since unspooling Wednesday.

Elsewhere among the top rankings, Warner Bros.’ Zac Efron starrer “17 Again” fell a relatively modest 51% over its sophomore session to $11.7 million in second place. That made for a 10-day cume of $40 million for a film that was produced for just $28 million.

Uni’s Russell Crowe-toplined “State of Play” also dropped 51% from its opening grosses to register $6.9 million in seventh place with a $25.1 cume. Lionsgate’s action sequel “Crank: High Voltage” was off 66% from its first weekend at $2.4 million in 10th place with a $11.5 million cume.

Industrywide, the weekend’s $114 million in collective grosses represented a 25% improvement over the same frame last year and the biggest-ever weekend gross for the final session of the spring boxoffice season, according to Nielsen EDI. Spring 2009′s final tally totals $1.11 billion, or 20% more than in the same boxoffice season last year, with the industry outpacing its year-over-year comparisons for each of the past five weekends.

1. Obsessed $28,500,000 (Cumulative Gross $28,500,000)
2. 17 Again $11,665,000 (Cumulative Gross $39,970,000)
3. Fighting $11,441,000 (Cumulative Gross $11,441,000)
4. The Soloist $9,715,000 (Cumulative Gross $9,715,000)
5. Earth $8,554,000 (Cumulative Gross $14,201,000)
6. Monsters vs. Aliens $8,524,000 (Cumulative Gross $174,817,000)
7. State of Play $6,891,000 (Cumulative Gross $25,124,000)
8. Hannah Montana The Movie $6,372,000 (Cumulative Gross $65,590,000)
9. Fast & Furious $6,062,000 (Cumulative Gross $145,224,000)
10. Crank High Voltage $2,400,000 (Cumulative Gross $11,518,000)
11. I Love You, Man $1,936,000 (Cumulative Gross $67,793,000)
12. Knowing $1,935,000 (Cumulative Gross $76,772,000)