It is easily the biggest opening for playwright-turned-director Neil LaBute, surpassing his dreadful remake of The Wicker Man ($9.6 million). The playwright-turned-director became friends with budding superstar Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) while attending Brigham Young University, and the square-jawed actor starred in LaBute's first 2 features: Sundance Film Festival sensation In the Company of Men ($2.8 million cume) and Your Friends and Neighbors ($4.7 million). As LaBute has drifted from edgy, cynical arthouse fare to lesser commercial projects, the results have been mixed critically. Still, the 43 percent Fresh score for Lakeview Terrace on Rotten Tomatoes represents a quantum leap over the 15 percent Fresh registered by The Wicker Man.

Actor Patrick Wilson's star continues to rise quickly. He opened to excellent reviews on Broadway in All My Sons, also starring John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Katie Holmes on Thursday night in New York City. Add to his resume the weekend’s No. 1 movie, next month's Passengers (Sony), Tom Cruise's Valkyrie (MGM/UA) due on Christmas Day and Zack Snyder's hyper-buzzed Watchmen (Warner Bros.) set for March, and Wilson's trajectory seems pointed to superstardom.

Terrace is yet another great little hit for Sony. The movie was made for just $20 million, and it follows the modestly budgeted hits Pineapple Express and The House Bunny. Both movies were made inexpensively and will finish their runs as wildly profitable projects, and now it appears that Lakeview Terrace will follow suit.

The Coen Brothers's Burn After Reading (Focus) will finish the weekend at No. 2 in exactly the range I called for Friday night. The studio-estimated $11.29 million for the goofy spy comedy was down just 41 percent from opening weekend, and Burn is already the all-time fourth-best grossing movie from Joel and Ethan Coen, trailing only last year's Oscar winner No Country for Old Men ($74.2 million cume), O Brother, Where Art Thou? ($45.5 million) and The Ladykillers ($39.8 million.

The new Dane Cook R-rated comedy My Best Friend's Girl (Lionsgate) will slow down the stand-up-comic-turned-actor's film careera little. With an opening of $8.3 million and a third-place finish, the movie is only the comic's fifth-best opening as a lead, behind Good Luck Chuck ($13.6 million), Dan in Real Life ($11.8 million), Employee of the Month ($11.4 million) and Mr. Brooks ($10 million). This movie is comparable to his first film vehicle, Waiting ($6 million opening), and it is hard to see how BFG will push much past $20 million domestic.

Igor (MGM), the new low-budget animated family film received a much larger-than-expected 64 percent bounce, and that has translated to an estimated $8 million and a No. 4 finish. Meanwhile, Righteous Kill (Overture) appears to have nosed out Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (Lionsgate) for the weekend $7.7 million-$7.5 million.

The other new wide release, Ghost Town (DreamWorks/Paramount) starring HBO Extras star Ricky Gervais, has stumbled out of the gate with just $5.17 million. Written and directed by Steven Spielberg pal David Koepp, Town was on a limited number of screens concentrated on the east and west coasts, but its $3,436 Per Theater Average was still very soft.

Speaking of PTA, Saul Dibb's The Duchess (Paramount Vantage) was the biggest success among specialty releases. The Keira Knightley/Ralph Fiennes period costume drama posted a $29,000 PTA at 7 locations. Apaloosa (Warner Bros.), directed by Ed Harris and starring Viggo Mortensen and Renee Zellweger, scored the No. 2 PTA, nabbing $18,429 at 14 playdates.

3-DAY STUDIO ESTIMATES
1. NEW Lakeview Terrace (Sony) — $15.6 million, $6,331 PTA, $15.6 million cume
2. Burn After Reading (Focus) — $11.29 million, $4,251 PTA, $36.4 million cume
3. NEW My Best Friend's Girl (Lionsgate) — $8.3 million, $3,187 PTA, $8.3 million cume
4. NEW Igor (MGM) — $8 million, $3,425 PTA, $8 million cume
5. Righteous Kill (Overture) — $7.7 million, $2,443 PTA, $28.8 million cume
6. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (Lionsgate) — $7.5 million, $3,623 PTA, $28.35 million cumez
7. The Women (Picturehouse) — $5.3 million, $1,772 PTA, $19.2 million cume
8. NEW Ghost Town (DreamWorks/Paramount) — $5.17 million, $3,436 PTA, $5.17 million cume
9. The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) — $2.95 million, $1,549 PTA, $521.92 million cume
10. The House Bunny (Sony) — $2.8 million, $1,047 PTA, $45.72 million cume

FRIDAY 9:30 p.m. (Pacific): Samuel L. Jackson's "scare tactics" in Lakeview Terrace (Sony) have put this Neil LaBute-directed thriller at the top of the box-office heap for the three-day weekend. The racially-charged, crooked-cop yarn sold an estimated $4.7 million in tickets on Friday, and it should finish the weekend with $13.5 million or so.

For Jackson, Terrace doesn't even crack his top 15 openings, settling for a number on par with 2006's Snakes on a Plane ($13.8 million), but it is easily LaBute's all-time biggest opening, surpassing his dreadful remake of The Wicker Man ($9.6 million). The playwright-turned-director became friends with budding superstar Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) while attending Brigham Young University, and the square-jawed actor starred in LaBute's first two features: Sundance Film Festival sensation In the Company of Men ($2.8 million cume) and Your Friends and Neighbors ($4.7 million). Unfortunately, he has drifted from edgy, cynical arthouse fare to lesser commercial projects as evidenced by the 43 percent Fresh score for Lakeview Terrace on Rotten Tomatoes (still better than the 15 percent Fresh registered by The Wicker Man).

The weekend's No.1 movie also stars Patrick Wilson, a Golden Globe nominee for HBO's Angels in America and the star of Todd Field's excellent Little Children. Terrace is by far his most commercial film, and, with Passengers (Sony) and Valkyrie (MGM/UA) due by the end of the year and Zack Snyder's hyper-buzzed Watchmen (Warner Bros.) set for March, it is probably just a next step to superstardom.

The Coen Brothers's Burn After Reading (Focus) is solidly at No. 2 for Friday with an estimated $3.42 million. That should translate to an excellent $11.3 million, down just 41 percent from opening weekend. By Monday, the goofball spy comedy will have banked $36.4 million making it the all-time fourth-best grossing movie from Joel and Ethan Coen, trailing only last year's Oscar winner No Country for Old Men ($74.2 million cume), O Brother, Where Art Thou? ($45.5 million) and The Ladykillers ($39.8 million).

Having the most MySpace friends apparently doesn’t make you a sure-thing at the box office. Dane Cook, the stand-up comic-turned-actor who built his career, in part, on the social networking site MySpace, has flopped in the new Lionsgate comedy My Best Friend's Girl. The movie, also starring Kate Hudson, scrounged up just $2.85 million in opening day ticket sales on its way to a likely three-day of just $7.7 million.

Industry tracking seemed to suggest $10 million-plus for this R-rated comedy, but instead the movie is a step backwards for Cook's big-screen career. My Best Friend's Girl is only the comic's fifth-best opening as a lead, behind Good Luck Chuck ($13.6 million), Dan in Real Life ($11.8 million), Employee of the Month ($11.4 million) and Mr. Brooks ($10 million). This movie is comparable to his first film vehicle, Waiting ($6 million opening), and it is hard to see how this one will push past $20 million domestic.

Holdovers Righteous Kill (Overture) and Tyler Perry's Family That Preys (Lionsgate) are neck-and-neck for the day, with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro holding the edge $2.34 million-$2.2 million. Perry’s film will play stronger with families on Saturday and Sunday, however, so Family That Preys will likely finish No. 4 with $7.59 million, compared to $7.2 million for Kill.

Two other new wide releases have opened very softly. MGM's animated Igor managed $1.9 million on Friday, and it will likely finish sixth with a disappointing $6.8 million. Meanwhile, Ghost Town (DreamWorks/Paramount) from Steven Spielberg pal David Koepp and starring Ricky Gervais (HBO's Extras), generated just $1.65 million in Friday sales, and it is headed for an opening weekend of only $5.5 million.

On the specialty front, there is very good news for Saul Dibb's The Duchess (Paramount Vantage), which debuted at seven locations. With Oscar nominees Keira Knightley (Atonement) and Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient) on the marquee, this period costume drama delivered an impressive $62,000 on Friday for a $9,000 Per Theatre Average. The film should wrap the weekend with a $30,000 PTA as it sets up for its platform release.

EXCLUSIVE FANTASY MOGULS EARLY FRIDAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW Lakeview Terrace (Sony) — $4.7 million, $1,907 PTA, $4.7 million cume
2. Burn After Reading (Focus) — $3.42 million, $1,287 PTA, $28.52 million cume
3. NEW My Best Friend's Girl (Lionsgate) — $2.85 million, $1,094 PTA, $2.85 million cume
4. Righteous Kill (Overture) — $2.34 million, $742 PTA, $23.44 million cume
5. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (Lionsgate) — $2.2 million, $1,063 PTA, $23 million cume
6. NEW Igor (MGM) — $1.9 million, $812 PTA, $1.9 million cume
7. The Women (Picturehouse) — $1.87 million, $625 PTA, $15.77 million cume
8. NEW Ghost Town (DreamWorks/Paramount) — $1.65 million, $1,096 PTA, $1.65 million cume
9. The House Bunny (Sony) — $1 million, $379 PTA, $49.93 million cume
10. The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) — $850,000, $446 PTA, $519.82 million cume

EXCLUSIVE FANTASY MOGULS EARLY 3-DAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW Lakeview Terrace (Sony) — $13.5 million, $5,479 PTA, $13.5 million cume
2. Burn After Reading (Focus) — $11.3 million, $4,253 PTA, $36.4 million cume
3. NEW My Best Friend's Girl (Lionsgate) — $7.7 million, $2,957 PTA, $7.7 million cume
4. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (Lionsgate) — $7.59 million, $3,667 PTA, $28.44 million cume
5. Righteous Kill (Overture) — $7.2 million, $2,284 PTA, $28.3 million cume
6. NEW Igor (MGM) — $6.8 million, $2,907 PTA, $6.8 million cume
7. The Women (Picturehouse) — $5.61 million, $1,876 PTA, $19.52 million cume
8. NEW Ghost Town (DreamWorks/Paramount) — $5.5 million, $3,654 PTA, $5.5 million cume
9. The House Bunny (Sony) — $3.29 million, $1,232 PTA, $46.22 million cume
10. The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.) — $3.14 million, $1,651 PTA, $522.11 million cume