Satan Rules The Box Office

The evil one himself may not have desired to serve in heaven, but this past weekend he did a pretty good job of ruling here on earth – at least at the box office. The Devil Inside, made on a modest $1 million budget, raked in $33.7 million domestically in its opening weekend, giving it a healthy $14K-plus per screen average.

The film breathed some life into an otherwise flagging post-holiday box office which saw the second-ranked movie, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, grab a mere $19.8 million; however, it’s been out a month now so that’s not bad. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows drew $13.6 million, while Girl With the Dragon Tattoo drew $11.6 million, while the Chipmunks movie added $9.5 million to round out the top five.

Devil Inside was the sole new release of the weekend.