Shark Tale still on top!

The wooden puppets of Team America: World Police just couldn't sink their teeth into the sea creatures as the animated hit Shark Tale held on to the top with a strong $22 million in North America.

Grossing a spunky $118 million in under three weeks and losing just about 29 percent of the audiences from the previous week, Shark Tale is emerging as one of the more profitable films of the year.

And its best is yet to come: expect the $70 million movie to make a whale in DVD and video sales.

It was followed by the realistic football drama Friday Nights Lights with a $13 million weekend gross and $38 million total in two weeks.

Arriving with mixed reviews, the political satire acted out by puppets, Team America: World Police debuted for $12.3 million at the third place. The film, which cost a moderate  $30 million, could be profitable in about six weeks, unless it plummets dramatically next week. It could do well in DVD and VHS versions, expected to contain the fully restored acrobatic sex scenes, toned down so that the film would have a R-rating.  

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Shall We Dance, about a middle-aged Richard Gere rediscovering life through a chance decision to learn ballroom dancing, opened to respectable numbers at the fourth place. Its $11.6 million gross was impressive, considering it was shown in just about 1,770 theaters. High profile films open much wider. For instance, Team America is in 2,500 theaters.

Another medium range hit Ladder 49 continues to perform well. The fifth top grossing film of the week, it has climbed to $53.8 million in three weeks.

The critically blasted Taxi is still on the streets. At the sixth place, it grossed $7.7 million, amassing $23 million in two weeks. The $25 million film's gross is a far cry from the golden business expected from it especially because of the rising popularity of Queen Latifah. But the inept comedy is far from being a dud. At its current rate of weekly attrition, it could still end up with a small profit.

The supernatural suspense drama The Forgotten continues to draw strong crowds at seventh place and the medium budget film is confidently marching to a $72 million gross.

It was followed by the flop Hillary Duff melodrama, Raise Your Voice.

The sleeper hit of the season, The Motorcycle Diaries added 83 theatres, taking its total count to 250 and a healthy $1.6 million grossed. In limited run for a month, the movie's gross has reached $5.6 million. By early next month, it could be showing in more than 500 theatres, eventually doubling that number, condition to substantial Golden Globe or Oscar nominations.

The independently produced Guiana 1838, which cost just about half a million dollars, continued its strong run, grossing about $22,492 from only two screens, bringing its total to $145,982.   

Box Office estimates for North America, October 15-17: