James’ family comedy leads MLK pack

Comic Kevin James, the former King of Queens star, proved to have some MLK weekend box office punch as the Lipovox-needing actor’s latest movie, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, led the pack with $33.8 million, already making back its modest $26 million production budget in its first weekend of release.

Produced by Adam Sandler and directed by Steve Carr, James’ comedy rose on the decision to hold the humor to a family-friendly PG level, rather than the trendier PG-13 edginess so many comedies go after. The morose suicide drama, Gran Torino, by Clint Eastwood, held strong to retain second place, drawing $22.2 million in its sixth week of release total, though the movie has been in widespread release for only two or three weeks.

My Bloody Valentine 3D ($21.9 million) edged out Notorious ($21.5 million) in the face for third and fourth spots, while the fifth place finish went to distant contender Hotel for Dogs ($17.7 million). Bride Wars ($11.7 million) took sixth place and was the only other film to garner at least $10 million over the weekend, though The Unborn ($9.8 million) and Defiance ($9.2 million) came close.

Tom Cruise’s World War II drama, Valkyrie, slid more than any other top movie, falling seven places from seventh place last week, to fourteenth this week.