The new Coen Brothers movie, Burn After Reading, lurched out a narrow victory over Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys to take the top of box office honors this weekend, hauling in $19.4 million against a $37 million budget, compared to $18 million for Perry’s movie.

Righteous Kill was a distant third place with $16.5 million, and in fourth place was The Women, which trailed badly with $10 million. Late summer hits like The House Bunny, Tropic Thunder and The Dark Knight all trailed in the distance with around $4 million each, showing that the movie-going public is finally ready for something – anything, really – new.

It does not require the services of a Chicago accident attorney to figure out that few of these movies will have much staying power, save for Burn After Reading.

However, next week’s fantastic four releases include a much better cadre of movies, including the highly anticipated Ricky Gervais comedy, Ghost Town; as well as high-profile releases like the animated Igor family film, classy Neil LaBute thriller Lakeview Terrace and the Kate Hudson romantic comedy, My Best Friend’s Girl.

I’d place my bets on Ghost Town being the most entertaining, and Igor on being the highest-grossing.