By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former pro wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson bodyslammed the competition at the weekend box office in North America as his latest action movie opened at No. 1, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.

"The Rundown," a comedy adventure in which Johnson plays a bounty hunter on the run in the Brazilian (news - web sites) jungle, sold about $18.5 million worth of tickets in its first three days since opening on Friday.

The $85 million film was released domestically by Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA, which partnered on the project with Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites).'s Columbia Pictures, which will distribute it internationally.

The top 10 contained two other new releases, both from divisions of Walt Disney Co. .

Touchstone Pictures' "Under the Tuscan Sun," a romance skewed to the female audience starring Diane Lane (news), grossed an impressive $9.4 million, tying at No. 2 with last weekend's champion, Sony's supernatural thriller "Underworld." Disney executives said they were "absolutely thrilled" with the bow, especially given that the film opened in a modest number of theaters -- 1,226 vs. 3,152 for "The Rundown." The film will add a few hundred theaters next weekend.

On the other hand, Miramax Films' "Duplex," a dark comedy starring Ben Stiller (news) and Drew Barrymore (news), opened at No. 7 with a disappointing $4.6 million from 2,189 theaters. The actors play a New York couple at war with their elderly neighbor. Danny DeVito (news) directed the film, which cost in the $40 million range.

OVERALL TICKET SALES SLIDE

Rounding out the top five were two films released last weekend, both squeezed down two places by the new arrivals. New Line Cinema's family adventure "Secondhand Lions," starring Michael Caine (news) and Robert Duvall (news), dug up $8.3 million. Paramount Pictures' "The Fighting Temptations," a musical comedy starring Cuba Gooding (news) Jr. and Beyonce Knowles (news), tuned in with $6.5 million. Their respective totals rose to $23.5 million and $20.2 million. "Underworld" rose to $37 million, also after two weekends. New Line is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc., while Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc .

The overall box office ended a two-week winning streak as sales for the top 12 films totaled $79 million, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The tally was down 12 percent from last weekend and down 14 percent from the year-ago period when the Reese Witherspoon (news) comedy "Sweet Home Alabama" was tops with $36 million. New releases next weekend include the rock 'n' roll comedy "The School of Rock" and the Denzel Washington (news) thriller "Out of Time."

The $18.5 million debut for "The Rundown" was in line with industry expectations, although some pundits had forecast a possible bow in the $20 million range. It also pales against the surprisingly strong $36 million opening of Johnson's last movie, "The Scorpion King," in April 2002. That movie benefited both from being a spin-off from the hit "Mummy" franchise, and from opening in the early summer.

Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said word of mouth on the well-reviewed movie was "fantastic," and she was also impressed by its broad demographic appeal, with 47 percent of the audience aged over 25. The film co-stars Christopher Walken (news), Seann William Scott (news) and Rosario Dawson (news).

1. The Rundown .......... $18,533,765

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $18,533,765

2. Under the Tuscan Sun .......... $9,751,425

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $9,751,425

3. Underworld .......... $9,418,606

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $37,025,501

4. Secondhand Lions .......... $8,258,330

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $23,464,037

5. The Fighting Temptations .......... $6,388,472

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $20,116,473

6. Once Upon a Time in Mexico .......... $5,004,233

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $48,967,404

7. Duplex .......... $4,617,128

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $4,617,128

8. Cold Creek Manor .......... $4,405,084

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $14,642,749

9. Matchstick Men .......... $4,354,363

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $30,703,127

10. Lost in Translation .......... $3,688,538

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $8,640,267

John L.: Finally, the Rock has come back to the big screen. Dwayne "The Rock Johnson" is in his third consecutive number one movie with The Rundown. He is headed into Colin Farrel territory. The former/recurring professional World Wrestling Entertainment sports entertainer has made the most successful jump to movies in the history of his "sport." Hulk Hogan has never had a successful movie and Roddy Piper is famous for his work in "They Live" but he is still trying to live down "Hell Comes to Frog Town." This is disappointing to me because I prefer The Rock's work in the wrestling ring than in the rectangular wide screen circle his seems to be more fond of as of late. It was my hidden desire that Rundown would suck and open poorly so that myself and the millions... and millions of the Rock's true fans could see him lay the smackdown on the likes of Triple H and Goldberg once more. But it's not likely to happen too often as Rundown is pretty good. More in my review. The surprise of the week is the success of Under the Tuscan Sun with Diane Lane who is getting a small following of admirers that have seemed to dig her since her Rumble Fish days. Chick flick is the stamp this movie gets, but people always forget there are more chicks than dicks in this country. Ben Stiller and Drew Barrymore did not attract many fans to Duplex which was advertised as some kind of cross between The Money Pit and Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead. Poor promotion, bad premise, and worse trailer helped doom this film to the Blockbuster shelf in a few weeks.

Any long term readers of the Kickin' Box Office Reports knows I am a huge fan of professional wrestling. I proudly admit to watching it every week for the past 25 years. For those who don't like the sports entertainment of it, that is fine. It's an acquired taste. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is the fifth most popular wrestler of all time. Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ric Flair, and Rowdy Roddy Piper are the only ones in that order who are more "over" as they say, historically. Currently, only Stone Cold is more popular than the Rock in wrestling circles. However, the reason that The Rock is becoming the most mainstream pro wrestler ever is how he presents himself. He is pleasant to the eye of those who find people in his main line of work repugnant. Plus the over the top antics he did on WWE television were excellent preparation for the action stunts he has to do in movies like the Scorpion King and The Rundown. This movie is about Beck (Rock) who is a bounty hunter of sorts ready to get out of that lifestyle and open up a small restaurant. However, to get the proper financing, he is going to have to do the movie typical "one more job." That job involves going to El Dorado (Helldorado to some) in South America and find Travis Walker (Seann William Scott) and bring him back to his father. On the surface, it seems, that this will be an easy job, but of course easy only comes in the first 15 minute bounty capture in the nightclub. After that, all Hell(dorado) breaks loose as it turns out Walker has crossed paths with Hatcher (Christopher Walken) who owns the a town in South America and is using its inhabitants as low paid slaves to mine his hole in the ground. Walker is smarter than he looks or acts and has used his wits to find an ancient (of course) artifact that could bring riches to anyone who gives it to a museum looking for a centerpiece, or it could also bring hope to the enslaved people of the village, or it could make Hatcher even more powerful than he already is. Beck just wants to get his mark and open up Becks House of Pancakes and Pie. All of these myriad contrivances makes for a pretty entertaining family friendly action picture. Rock and Scott have adequate chemistry together as they travel through the jungle running away from a increasingly violent Hatcher. Rosario Dawson shows up as Mariana, the local hot bartender slash freedom fighter. She has her own agenda that puts Beck and Walker in quite the compromising position. Dawson has had an odd career as she somehow surpassed her 2 costars from Josie and the Pussycats who can't get arrested. She also tries to put on some sort of South American/Hispanic/Puerto Rican accent that goes in and out and then finally disappears. Fortunately it does not distract too much. Walken continues to do his own personal imitation of himself that he has perfected since Pulp Fiction and he is very funny here. The best part of the trailer that gets the biggest laugh is his "owww" yell when he gets shot. I believe that his annual appearances on Saturday Night Live over the last 10 years has helped perfect his comedic timing. He has fun here and it helps make the movie better than it has any right to be. The humor is more interesting than the action as you will remember the monkeys, the poison fruit, and the tooth fairy more than the night club and bar fights. The Rock is not a good actor per se, but he looks like he could beat everyone on the screens ass easily. Much easier than trying to beat Triple H at least. Rock's on screen acting is about half the speed of what he is famous for on television and seeing him in this movie as a fan, looks like he is in slow motion all of the time. If the producers and directors ever let him go off, then the non wrestling public will know what the fuss is all about. The Rundown is a better movie than Scorpion King, but not as energetic. The acting and writing is better here. There is no edge to the picture though. Lacking any moment that makes you go "holy crap" and gets people talking hurts the after movie impact. You will tend to forget much of what you saw after it is over. But as you watch it, you will enjoy yourself. Final Review: 3 stars out of 5; 6 1/2 out of 10; B; thumbs up.

1. Diane Lane tries to carry a movie again by herself and seems to have a sight success with her journey to Tuscany.

2. Underworld has dropped off significantly from last week because there is nothing there to excite an audience to see it over and over again.

3. Haley Joel Osment is aging poorer than Michael Caine.

4. Fighting Temptations has a core niche that will go see this type of film everytime, but it appears to not be crossing over.

5. Once upon a time there was a Hispanic director who showed to have an original filmmaking vision and then decided to make the same movie 2 more times.

6. Robert Rodriguez needs to be given a $100 million budget and make a remake of the Alamo movie.

7. Duplex has been foreclosed on by the public because they saw it 17 years ago when it was called The Money Pit.

8. The scariest thing about Cold Creek Manor is that Hollywood continues to pay Sharon Stone to appear in movies.

9. Grifting in the movies like Matchstick Men that glorifies the criminal lifestyle continue to fail at the box office.

10. Bill Murray is trying to get the Oscar nomination for his work in Lost in Translation that eluded him for Razor's Edge and Meatballs.

Next week is time to go back to school with Jack Black and his rocking new comedy. It is supposed to make him a star. The fools obviously have never listed to the Tenacious D album. Bye for now.