Apparently it takes a movie about gambling to finally bring down a family-friendly film.

This past weekend, 21 won big at the tables and brought in over $24 million dollars.  The movie - the third Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey have starred in together - survived less than stellar critical reviews to cash in over $9000 per theater.  (That average was tops for any move in the Top Ten.)  The new box office champ also pushed Horton and its $17.7 million into second place.

Further down the list, Stop-Loss once again proved that audiences are not interested in purchasing tickets for pics about the war.  Is it because these films are far too political, or do people simply need a more light-hearted theme to escape with?  Whatever the reason, Loss entered the charts in a disappointing 8th place.  The Ryan Phillippe vehicle did earn a respectable $3500 screen average though.

Elsewhere, David Schimmer’s Run Fatboy Run failed to go the distance.  The comedy, starring Simon Pegg, trailed just outside the top of the pack landing in 12th place.  Meanwhile, Chapter 27 did well for itself despite debuting in only one theater.  The drama with Jared Leto and Lindsay Lohan grossed $13,910 over the last three days.

1. 21, Sony, $24,105,943 (avg. $9,103)
2. Horton Hears a Who, 20th Century Fox,  $17,740,106 (avg. $4,637)
3. Superhero Movie, MGM, $9,510,297 (avg. $3,213)
4. Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, Lionsgate, $7,481,508 (avg. $3,711)
5. Drillbit Taylor, Paramount, $5,713,585 (avg. $1,867)
6. Shutter, 20th Century Fox, $5,221,016 (avg. $1,894)
7. 10,000 BC, Warner Bros,  $4,947,174 (avg. $1,619)
8. Stop-Loss, Paramount, $4,555,117 (avg. $3,528)
9. College Road Trip, Disney,  $3,457,756 (avg. $1,523)
10. The Bank Job, Lionsgate,  $2,780,168 (avg. $1,732)

(You can review last week’s numbers here.)