B.O. flips for 'Dolphin Tale'

'Dolphin Tale'Out with the old wait.A quartet of wide releases, led by "50/50" and "Courageous," were no match for a trio of sturdy holdovers, as Warner Bros.' "Dolphin Tale" surged in its second week to claim the domestic B.O.'s top spot with an estimated $14.2 million. Overseas, Sony's "The Smurfs" likely retained its eighth-straight No. 1 perch, dropping just 15% for a weekend take of $10.7 million and a cume of $380.8 million."Dolphin Tale," which fell just 26%, knocked previous B.O. champ "The Lion King" 3D from its two-week reign to the No. 3 spot, leaving Sony's "Moneyball" holding on to second place. "Lion King," with an astonishing Stateside cume of $79.7 million, grossed in its third frame an estimated $11.1 million; "Moneyball" took in $12.5 million.Meanwhile, Sony's "Courageous" -- an under-the-radar contender this weekend -- overperformed with an estimated $8.8 million, thanks in large part to a strong foothold in the faith-based community, which gave the film an A+ CinemaScore rating."Based on (the film's) pre-sales, we knew we had something going into the weekend," said Sony distrib topper Rory Bruer, referring to the pic's $2 million in advanced ticket sales. "Plus, it's the type of film that's going to work really well with its core audience." "Courageous," which wasn't expected to surpass $6 million, came in just slightly under weekend estimates for Summit's cancer comedy "50/50," grossing a projected $8.9 million. The pair could flip-flop when actuals are released on Monday, since some studio estimates have "Courageous" ahead of "50/50."Bowing soft this weekend, Morgan Creek's "Dream House," which is being distribbed by Universal, came in at No. 6, with an estimated $8.2 million, while 20th Century Fox's laffer "What's Your Number?" stalled with $5.6 million. ("Dream House" was expected to hit a double-digit opening; low-end pre-weekend projections for "What's Your Number?" were at $6 million.)The bar was lowered from last weekend, but a broad swath of pics doing mostly OK biz kept overall totals roughly 5% ahead of the same frame last year. In limited release, Sony Pictures Classics' "Take Shelter" started out strong, averaging $18,724 from three screens in NY and L.A. for a three-day total of $56, 171.Sundance Selects' gay-themed U.K. drama "Weekend" had a solid expansion, broadening to six engagements for a per-screen average of $8,000 and an estimated weekend take of $91,000. By comparison, Relativity Media's "Machine Gun Preacher" grossed $82,000 from an expanded 33 locations, averaging just $2,485 per screen.Kenneth Lonergan's long-delayed sophomore pic "Margaret" also struggled to gain traction this weekend. Pic, from Fox Searchlight, averaged a quiet $3,748 from two locations but will expand to 12 more U.S. markets on Oct. 7. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

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