He may have lost out to Bruce Springsteen last night, but Clint Eastwood was still a big winner this weekend. After 4 weeks in limited theaters, the 78-year-old’s film became the top movie in wide release.

Eastwood’s directorial project not only pulled in $29.4 million over the last three days ($40.5 million to date), it outranked the vehicles from Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Will Smith. Gran Torino also earned the best per screen average of any charter in the Top Ten.

Despite opening on approximately 600 more screens than the first place finisher, #2’s Bride Wars grossed nearly $4000 less per theater. The Kate Hudson-Anne Hathaway comedy also averaged less than #3’s The Unborn.

Although it recently fell to 11th place, expect Slumdog Millionaire to reappear in the Top Ten next weekend. The film’s four Golden Globe wins will surely give the picture a financial boost.

1. Gran Torino, Warner Bros., $29,484,388 (avg. $10,500)
2. Bride Wars, 20th Century Fox, $21,058,173 (avg. $6528)
3. The Unborn, Universal, $19,810,585 (avg. $8405)
4. Marley & Me, 20th Century Fox, $11,391,425 (avg. $3275)
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Paramount, $9,212,515 (avg. $3126)
6. Bedtime Stories, Disney, $8,802,120 (avg. $2507)
7. Valkyrie, United Artists/MGM, $6,617,065 (avg. $2332)
8. Yes Man, Warner Bros., $6,032,337 (avg. $2041)
9. Not Easily Broken, Sony, $5,314,278 (avg. $7340)
10. Seven Pounds, Sony, $3,818,230 (avg. $1555)

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