Box office

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY

Brad Pitt and George Clooney held off a slew of other stars and new films this weekend to propel Burn After Reading to the top spot at the box office.
The dark comedy from the Coen brothers did $19.4 million, according to studio estimates from box office trackers Nielsen EDI.

The haul was about $3 million more than projected and was enough to beat out Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, which did a healthy $18 million.

Righteous Kill, the cop drama that reunited Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, met expectations with third place and $16.5 million, while Meg Ryan's The Women was fourth $10.1 million, which also met projections.

Rounding out the top five was The House Bunny, which did $4.3 million, bringing its total to $42.2 million.

The Hollywood spoof Tropic Thunder crossed the $100 million mark with a $4.2 million haul, lifting its total to $103 million.

The weekend gave the industry a boost after several weeks of lagging ticket sales. Grosses were up 79% over last weekend and 39% over the same weekend last year.