There were no reports of giant vampire bunnies rampaging through Hollywood, but it was still a pretty scary Easter weekend at the box office.

Reuters reports that Sunday studio estimates have put horror movie spoof Scary Movie 4 at $41 million, setting a new Easter record. The previous champion was Panic Room, which bowed at $30 million in 2002.

Although it’s no franchise high (it’s behind 2003’s Scary Movie 3 and the 2000 original), distributor Weinstein Co. is pleased. “We’re really elated with this opening,” said Steve Bunnell, chairman of distribution. He added that plans are afoot for a fifth movie, which is truly frightening news.

Disney’s The Wild failed to excite audiences, however. The animated comedy opened in fourth place with $9.6 million. Perhaps critics found it to be too similar to DreamWorks’ 2005 hit Madagascar.

Previous champion Ice Age: The Meltdown, the first blockbuster of 2006, fell to #2 with $20 million, taking its total to $147 million.

The Rob Schneider baseball comedy The Benchwarmers slipped one place to #3 with $10 million.

Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight tripled the theatre count of Thank You For Smoking and was rewarded when the acclaimed satire jumped two places to #8 with $4.5 million.






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