Fox/Blue Sky’s ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN, hailed as the first blockbuster of 2006, cooled off by 50% in its second week, but still managed to lead the box office with $33.8M and a cume of $115.7M for the weekend ended April 9, 2006.

Debuting in a distant second and third place were Sony/Revolution’s THE BENCHWARMERS with $19.6M and New Line’s TAKE THE LEAD with $12M. Universal’s INSIDE MAN dropped to fourth with $9.1M and $66M. Bowing in fifth was MGM’s LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN with $7M. Paramount’s FAILURE TO LAUNCH settled for sixth with $4.1M and $79.1M. Warner Bros.’ ATL followed in seventh with $3.7M and $17.2M. Eighth place belonged to Warner Bros.’ V FOR VENDETTA (with vfx by Cinesite, Double Negative and Baseblack), which brought home another $3.4M for a cume of $62.2M. Bowing in ninth with $3.1M was Fox Searchlight’s PHAT GIRLZ. And Fox Searchlight’s THANK YOU FOR SMOKING cracked the top 10 with $2.3M and a cume of $6.1M. Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.