“Jumper” soared to the top of the weekend box office heap with a rake of almost $34 million from Thursday to Sunday. “Step Up 2 the Streets” scored a surprise second place with a healthy $26.3 million. “The Spiderwick Chronicles” followed with $21.4 million. And in a duel of the date-movie flicks, second-week contender “Fool’s Gold” ($13 million) topped newcomer “Definitely, Maybe” ($12.4 million). 

In a movie-related story that caught our eye, Matthew B. Zeidman of Hollywood Today takes a hard look at why critically acclaimed films like “There Will Be Blood” don’t always fare well at the box office  – and why Hosannas from the critics don’t count for much in the end.

Pat yourselves on the back, MP users, because you correctly predicted that digital music King Kong Jack Johnson (No. 1), Sheryl Crow (No. 2), and Lenny Kravitz (No. 4) would all crack the Top 5 in their first week on the Billboard 200. Alicia Keys dropped from to No. 3 and the Grammy Nominees soundtrack held steady at No. 5.

Michael Pollan’s “In Defense of Food” keeps its stranglehold on the top spot on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list, and John Grisham’s “The Appeal” holds the top spot on the fiction bestseller list for the 2nd week in a row. Khaled Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns” is the greyjackjohnson166.jpg-hair of the list, holding steady at No. 5 in its 38th week on the fiction list.