Audiences eager to satisfy their sweet tooth kept Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the top of the box office for a second straight weekend with ticket sales of $28.3 million US.

The Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson buddy comedy Wedding Crashers remained in second spot, earning $26.2 million, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. The comic book-based action film Fantastic Four came in third once again with receipts of $12.3 million.

But in spite of these solid earnings, Hollywood fell back this week into the box office slump that has been lingering for most of the year.

“The business was there. It just got spread pretty thin among a lot of movies,” said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox.

Michael Bay’s sci-fi flick, The Island, starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as runaway clones, made a disappointing debut in fourth place, taking in only $12.1 million. Its distributor, DreamWorks, was baffled by the film’s poor earnings.

“I don’t know. Clearly, it’s a disappointing opening,” said Jim Tharp, DreamWorks’ head of distribution. “We can only hope the film finds its audience in the next few weeks.”

The rest of the weekend box office is as follows:

- No. 5: The Bad News Bears ($11.5 million).
- No. 6: War of the Worlds ($8.8 million).
- No. 7: Hustle and Flow ($8.1 million).
- No. 8: The Devil’s Rejects ($7 million).






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