Drink it up: ‘Milk’ tops weekend chart for Dec. 12-14

December 15, 1:22 PMAtlanta Movies ExaminerRyan McNally

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It may have failed to score a Golden Globe Best Picture nomination (though Sean Penn did grab a Best Actor nod), but Milk topped our weekend standings (an average of box office, critics' reviews and audience response**) for Dec. 12-14. Further down the chart, three other Oscar hopefuls made their chart debuts:

1) Milk (1). Expanding to 328 screens, it maintained a healthy $8,037 per-screen average en route to a weekend box office gross of $2.6 million.

2) Slumdog Millionaire (1T). Nominated for four Golden Globes, including Best Pic, it also expanded this weekend, bumping up to 169 screens and grossing $2.2 mil as Focus continues its gradual rollout.

3) Bolt (3). Showing strong legs—no doubt aided by its 85 tomatometer score, 7.7 IMDB user rating and Best Animated Feature GG nom—its box office dropped only 23 percent in its 4th weekend in theaters.

4) Frost/Nixon (NR). This Ron Howard-helmed Oscar hopeful and Globe Best Pic nominee makes the week’s highest chart debut, tallying a roaring 90 tomatometer rating and 8.0 IMDB score.

5) Role Models (4). This surprise comedy hit will surpass The Happening’s box office gross this week to move up to the year’s 6th biggest grossing R-rated flick … alas, #5 Pineapple Express is well out of reach.

6T) Gran Torino (NR). Though its lone Globe nod was in the lowly Best Song category, Clint Eastwood’s new film cracked the B.O. Top 20 despite playing on only six screens, riding great reviews to a tough $47,333 per-screen gross.

6T) Quantum Of Solace (5). As the latest Bond movie slowly falls down the chart, star Daniel Craig has another movie hitting theaters at month's end—the WWII drama Defiance.

8) Australia (10). Shut out at the Golden Globes, dropped 39 percent at the box office and has grossed about $90 million less than its budget … not a great week for the latest Baz Luhrmann pic.

9) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (6T). Despite the debut of the Bolt juggernaut, has held pretty well on the charts … certainly better than Chris Rock’s last non-animated pic, 2007’s I Think I Love My Wife.

10) Doubt (NR). Playing on until 15 screens, it crept into the B.O. Top 20 by grossing $15K per theater. Also picked up an impressive four Globe acting nods (Seymour Hoffman, Streep, Amy Adams and Viola Davis).

**Tired of reading about the latest dumb action flick, lame gross-out comedy or played-out torture porn horror pic that took home the box office crown? Wish the media balanced out screaming headlines about box office winners with more stories about “the top reviewed films” or the “films audiences loved the most”?

I’m with ya. And that’s why I’ve devised a new ranking system (see list above) that combines critics’ reviews, audience response and, yes, box office to deliver a comprehensive list of what’s hot in theaters in each weekend. (The previous week’s chart position is listed in parentheses after the film title.)