THE OTHER GUYS:

Box Office Prophets

Wild Hogs… $26.4M
Zodiac… $17.5M
Ghost Rider… $10.3M
Bridge to Terabithia… $8.1M
Black Snake Moan… $7.6M
The Number 23… $6.9M
Reno 911: Miami… $6.2M
Norbit… $4.9M
Music & Lyrics… $4.3M
Breach… $3.5M

Box Office Guru

Wild Hogs… $23M
Zodiac… $16M
Ghost Rider… $10M
Bridge to Terabithia… $9M
Black Snake Moan… $8M
The Number 23… $7M

Screens

Ghost Rider… 3,609 (-12)
Wild Hogs… 3,287
Bridge to Terabithia… 3,159 (+20)
Norbit… 2,827 (-318)
The Number 23… 2,759 (0)
Reno 911: Miami… 2,702 (0)
Music & Lyrics… 2,644 (-311)
Zodiac… 2,362
Breach… 1,496 (+3)
Black Snake Moan… 1,252

WHAT’S IN THE CARDS

Black Snake Moan — By far the most er, interesting bow this weekend. You’d think Samuel Jackson would be avoiding scripts with the word “snake” in the title like they were printed on actual snakes, but apparently such is not the case. Jackson plays a blues singer who tries to save the town trollop’s soul by keeping her chained up in his dirty cabin. Reviews are excellent, but the subject matter will probably limit flick’s appeal outside of major cities (where chaining up white girls is socially acceptable). By the way, said trollop is played by the now-waifish Christina Ricci (of course we liked her better when there was more to love) who spends the majority of the flick in chains, a Skynyrd shirt and dirty panties… just like I picture her in my dreams. Only with her head still attached and minus the pentagrams carved into her.

Zodiac — And speaking of the voices in my head telling me to kill, David Fincher returns to the serial killer genre to which he owes a career. Flick is based on the true-life mass murderer, with Jake Gyllenhaal starring as a newspaper cartoonist obsessed with solving the Zodiac Killer case… by making sweet love to every cowboy in sight. Zodiac should fare well compared to recent serial killer type flcks, but don’t expect SE7EN type numbers.

Wild Hogs — The biggest contender for the # 1 slot is a biker buddy comedy starring John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy. Sort of an Easy Rider for the gated community baby-boomer set, flick packs star power and is just generic, dumb and safe enough to virtually guarantee a weekend sweep in all age groups.