By Jeffrey Jolson

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 3/31/08 – Hipster gambler flick “21”was never supposed to win the weekend with $23.7 million. Any more than it’s hero Kevin Spacey was ever supposed to win an Oscar (American Beauty). But there you go, movie-goers vote - and that’s a period.

‘Stop-Loss’ came in a weak 7^th place, Horton still heard something but not first place, ‘Superhero’ does better than expected, and “Fatboy” flops.

According to Fantasy Moguls, the card-counting thriller 21 (Sony) enjoyed a solid 19% increase Friday-to-Saturday for an excellent $10.17M Saturday. Based on the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich and produced by Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, the hip gambling saga will likely grab another $6.3M on Sunday, which will be enough to push it to $25M for the weekend. (Scroll down to my Friday Night update for more detail including my interview with card-counter Jeff Ma.)

Horton Hears a Who (Fox) added another $8.03M Saturday, and it’s headed for an $18.1M 3rd weekend. The CGI animated family film will likely have $118M or so in the bank by Monday morning after a 2nd place weekend finish.

MGM/Weinstein’s Superhero Movie was up 21% from its opening day, picking up $4.11M. The “spoof” flick will finish with a disappointing $9.69M opening, finishing just ahead of Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns (Lionsgate). The latest from Perry generated an estimated $3.98M on Saturday, and it’s on target for a lackluster $8.69M 2nd weekend. That’s a larger-than-expected weekend drop of 57%. The Owen Wilson bomb Drillbit Taylor (Paramount) rounds out the weekend Top 5. The poorly-reviewed comedy sold $2.69M in tickets on Saturday, and Drillbit will finish the weekend with $6.34M.

Among other new wide releases, Stop Loss (Dreamworks/Paramount) has fared best. The Kimberly Peirce-directed Iraq War drama added $1.95M Saturday, and that should translate to $4.84M for the 3-day. Meanwhile, Run Fatboy Run (Picturehouse) is a disaster, selling just over $1M in tickets on its 2nd day. The David Schwimmer-directed Simon Pegg vehicle will manage only $2.46M this weekend, despite debuting on 1,133 screens.

Chapter 27 (Peace Arch), a new narrative film about the life of John Lennon assassin Mark David Chapman, continues to excel in its sole theatrical engagement at The Nuart in Los Angeles. Starring Jared Leto as Chapman, the well-reviewed film added another $6,000 on Saturday, and it will likely finish the weekend with over $16,000, more than enough to win the weekend PTA crown.

The 2nd-best 3-day PTA will be posted by the low budget gay-themed A Four Letter Word (Ebrem Entertainment). On 1 screen at the Clearview Chelsea Cinemas, the comedy will finish the weekend with just over $11,000. 21 will be #3 in the weekend PTA race, followed by Thinkfilm’s Italian drama My Brother is an Only Child and the Academy Award winner The Counterfeiters (Sony Classics). According to Reuters early  Sunday reports: he new gambling drama “21″ played a winning hand at the weekend box office in North America, earning an estimated $23.7 million in its first round, distributor Columbia Pictures said on Sunday.

The fact-based saga revolves around a team of college whizzes who conspire to count cards at blackjack tables in Las Vegas. The cast includes Jim Sturgess as one of the kids, Kevin Spacey as their coach, and Laurence Fishburne as a displeased casino thug.

Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp, said the opening for the $35 million film exceeded expectations, and it played strongly to old and young, male and female moviegoers.

After two weekends at No. 1, the animated smash “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who!” slipped to No. 2 with $17.4 million. The 20th Century Fox comedy, featuring the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, became the first release of 2008 to hit the century mark, with sales of $117.3 million to date. Fox is a unit of News Corp.

New at No. 3 was the comedy spoof “Superhero Movie” with $9.5 million. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., and produced by Weinstein Co’s Dimension Films banner. Both are privately held.

Prolific filmmaker Tyler Perry’s latest comedy “Meet the Browns” tumbled two places to No. 4 with $7.8 million, losing a hefty 61 percent of its opening-weekend haul. Its total stands at $32.8 million. The film was released by Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

The Owen Wilson comedy “Drillbit Taylor” fell one place to No. 5 with $5.3 million, also in its second weekend. Its drop was 49 percent, and its total rose to $20.6 million. The film was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.

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