I had another solid week last week. I was right with The Messengers for the #1 movie, but over shot the total by about $4 million. I was very close for the totals of Epic Movie and Night at the Museum, but was one spot off for Epic Movie which I had coming in #2. Instead, Because I Said So was #2 and did much better than I expected. After a good start, Smokin’ Aces really dropped down. Now, with two new movies opening up, both of which have had tons of commercials, what will reign supreme? Read on to find out:

1. Norbit. Eddie Murphy garnered a Golden Globe win and an Oscar Nomination (perhaps a win too) for his supporting role in Dream Girls. Somehow I doubt that he will get one next year for his starring role in Norbit. The movie doesn’t look very good, but neither did last year’s similar looking Big Momma’s House 2 which made an impressive $27 million its opening weekend. Murphy has a history of box office gold with this type of movie. The Nutty Professor movies both earned over $120 million at the box office, and the sequel started out with a huge $42 million. I don’t see Norbit being that successful, but it should do very well nonetheless. It gets off to a good start with $22 million.

2. Hannibal Rising. I was very tempted to put this lower on the list, but there is not much competition. The top two movies last week made only $15 and $13 million which isn’t a high total and those numbers will come down in their second week of release. Even if The Messengers hangs on to an astounding 67% of its audience (which is very rare and only happens on huge blockbusters) it would still only make $10 million this week which isn’t a very high total for Hannibal Rising to shoot for. The other recent Hannibal Lector films have done very well, but they stared Mr. Hannibal Lector himself, Anthony Hopkins. I don’t see this prequel having the same drawing power, but it will have enough for the #2 spot making $13 million.

3. The Messengers. As mentioned above, it got off to a good, but not stellar start last week. I don’t see it having a lot of staying power and it has competition in the horror category from Hannibal Rising. It drops down to $8 million.

4. Because I Said So. I was surprised that it made $13 million last week. That is a solid start. It has a chance through good word of mouth to have some nice staying power, but it will still also drop down, and will bring in $7 million.

5. Epic Movie. It got off to a good start, but lost a huge percentage of its audience from week one to week two. I guess people caught on to the fact that the movie looks terrible. It barely stays on the top 5 list for one last week. It makes $6 million.

Night at the Museum’s run in the top 5 was very impressive but is over. It will hang around the top 10 for awhile though and keep crawling towards $250 million. At $225 million right now, I say it will fall just short of that mark.