By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Eminem (news - web sites) has shocked the music world for the last few years. Now it's the movie industry's turn to be bowled over the controversial rapper.

The enfant terrible of the hip-hop community grabbed the No. 1 spot at the North American box office on Sunday as his feature film debut "8 Mile" sold $54.5 million worth of tickets in its first three days.

The Universal Pictures drama ranks as the fifth-best opener of 2002, and the second-best R-rated bow of all time.

In addition to ruling the film world, Eminem is also king of the U.S. pop charts with the "8 Mile" soundtrack. The last artist to accomplish the double was Jennifer Lopez (news) last year.

But he will likely lose his box office crown next weekend to a young boy wizard when "Harry Potter (news - web sites) and the Chamber of Secrets" opens.

"8 Mile," loosely based on Eminem's hardscrabble upbringing in suburban Detroit, co-stars Kim Basinger (news) as his trailer-trash mother. It was directed by Curtis Hanson (news), who previously worked with Basinger in "L.A. Confidential," a movie that yielded Academy Awards (news - web sites) for both.

Going into the weekend, Universal executives had hoped for an opening in the $25 million to $30 million range, said Nikki Rocco, president of distribution at the Vivendi Universal SA unit.

Not surprisingly, the audience skewed young. Exit polling indicated 69 percent of viewers were under 25, which still leaves a lot of people outside Eminem's target fan base who saw the movie as well. Females comprised 53 percent of the audience, while blacks and Hispanics made up just under half.

Among all movies released so far this year, only "Spider-Man," "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones," "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and "Signs" have opened higher. Among R-rated movies, the 2001 release "Hannibal" holds the record with a $58 million opening.

BROAD PRAISE FOR EMINEM

While the lyrical content of his Grammy-winning albums has drawn the ire of women's and gay rights groups, Eminem won broad critical praise for his "8 Mile" role as a struggling rapper with dreams of stardom. The film, shot on location in Detroit, was budgeted at $41 million, Rocco said.

"8 Mile" pushed the rest of the movies in the top five down one spot. Last weekend's champion, "The Santa Clause 2," was No. 2 with $24.8 million. The Tim Allen (news) comedy, released by Walt Disney Pictures, has earned $60.1 million to date. The studio is a unit of Walt Disney Co .

"The Ring," the biggest surprise of the fall, was third with $16 million. The killer-videotape thriller was released by privately held studio DreamWorks SKG. It has grossed $86.1 million after four weekends.

The disappointing Eddie Murphy (news) comedy "I Spy" was No. 4 with $9.0 million in its second weekend. Its 10-day total stands at $24.7 million. The film was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (news - web sites) .

The reality stunt picture "Jackass: The Movie" was No. 5 with $7.2 million. The former box office champ, released by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, has grossed $53.3 million after three weekends.

The top 10 contained one other new release, "Femme Fatale (news - web sites)," which opened at No. 9 with just $2.8 million. The film noir stars Antonio Banderas (news) and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (news), and was directed by Brian De Palma (news). Warner Bros., a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc., opened the film on Wednesday, giving it a five-day sum of $3.5 million.

Eminem helped move the overall box office higher, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The top 12 films grossed $133 million, up 33 percent from last weekend and up 15 percent from the year-ago weekend, when "Monsters, Inc." was tops for a second round.

Besides the "Harry Potter" sequel, next weekend also sees the release of "Half Past Dead," an Alcatraz siege movie starring Steven Seagal (news) and rapper Ja Rule.

LOS ANGELES, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the November 8-10 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

1. 8 Mile .......... $51,240,555

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $51,240,555

2. The Santa Clause 2 .......... $24,734,523

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $60,038,513

3. The Ring .......... $15,507,802

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $85,601,983

4. I Spy .......... $8,809,800

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $24,487,959

5. Jackass: The Movie .......... $7,106,194

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $53,225,646

6. My Big Fat Greek Wedding .......... $5,854,005

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $192,857,165

7. Sweet Home Alabama .......... $3,810,839

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $118,548,539

8. Ghost Ship .......... $3,157,407

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $26,171,019

9. Femme Fatale .......... $ 2,776,248

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $3,430,876

10. Frida .......... $2,754,118

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $4,506,816

Reuters/Variety

John L.:  The great white hope of rap has arrived and he is a huge success.  Let's check out this hizzey my dizzey.

8 MILE - FULL REVIEW

Marshall Bruce Mathers goes by the moniker of Eminem like the candy, but uhh not.  The Mars Corporation has yet to sue.  He is a rare performer in that he is a white guy who raps.  Rap music started in the streets of the ghettos and urban areas of the big cities that a predominance of blacks and Hispanic people speaking in rhyme to a beat and dancing.  A lot of it was done instead of punching, kicking,  stabbing and shooting each other.  People would battle on the mic (microphone) instead of with violence.  These little games of "the dozens" has become a multi billion dollar industry and this style of hip hop rules at the top of the pop charts constantly.  It is rare, but not unheard of for a white guy who is perceived to not understand the hardships of the urban areas to be able to get the street cred to perform in this environment.  Rob Van Winkle tried it and was the hottest thing going as Vanilla Ice for about a year and a half.  However, his preppie background made it hard for him to be taken seriously when he sung about taking out his nine while his dj revolved it.  Ice Ice Baby is a notorious song that had a great hook from a Queen/David Bowie song called "Under Pressure.  After that fad was over, he disappeared from the music scene only to show up sporadically on where are they now specials.  However, guys like the Beastie Boys, Third Base, and House of Pain were good rappers who adapted their own personal lives into rap beats and crazy thoughts that were real to them.  They sounded like "black guys" but they sort of embraced their whiteness.  The Beasties fought for their right to party, Third Base put you down with the gas face, and HOP prided themselves in being Irish.  So, pretty boy Eminem shows up looking a bit too much like a pretty boy who should be singing back up to NSync.  However, Dr. Dre of "The Chronic Album" and Snoop Dogg fame heard this guy riff, and signed him up to a record deal.  And to the surprise of many, this white boy could rap like a black guy and sound legit.  What Eminem did was rap in a pop style with his "what is my name" variations and having the good fortune to have a mother who was a drunk and a psychopath with shades of Munchausen Syndrome.  To understand Mathers' music you have to know his whole biography.  If you don't know it, he will certainly tell you about how he hates how his moms raised him and what a bitch his wife Kim is.  Listening to his music, you get the idea that it would make a good movie, and that is where we come to 8-Mile, a long stretch of Detroit, Michigan that is run down and dangerous to live in especially for a white kid living in a trailer park with his lush mother while trying not to get up with the scary looking bruthas who are always challenging him.  Eight Mile is one of those pseudo biographical flicks like "Glitter" where the singer plays themself so that they can be praised for their performance even though they are playing themself.  I guess it is more like how Howard Stern played himself in "Private Parts" and considers himself a great actor.  When 8 Mile came out, people were chanting Oscar.  That is reaching quite a bit, but Em is good in this movie as he tries to find the courage to go on stage and rap in a "Dozens" battle where you try to put down your challenger the best by exposing their weaknesses like the clothes they wear, their hairstyle, their girlfriends, or just the size of their penis.  Eminem gets to act when he interacts with his mother played by Kim Basinger.  Acting is stretch as those scenes are pretty brutal in their delivery.  "Mom, you gotta stop livin' like this."  Duh.  I am still not sure if the little girl in the movie is Em's daughter or his sister since in real life he has a daughter the same age as the little girl in the film.  I got confused.  The movie tries to show this area of Detroit as being bad and fun at the same time.  Mekhi Phifer plays Em's best friend, Future.  I love how movies like this never give black guys real names. Spike Lee started that trend.  Phifer believes in Em's Rabbit character's talents as a rapper and that they will make it big in the music industry.  He gives the second best performance in the movie and probably could have been developed a bit more, but it is not his movie.   Brittany Murphy is Alex and is interested in Rabbit.  She has nothing to do here.  Her character could have been removed with nothing changed in the outcome of the film.  I like looking at her, so it was not too much of a tragedy.  The best parts of the movie are the rap offs, but their lameness in parts make it ridiculous when a stupid quip makes the crowd go "ahhh, no he didn't just say that" when it really wasn't all that great.  In fact, if Em ever used the disses he did in this movie in real life, he would be booed off stage.  The final battle is pretty good, but too one sided.  A back and forth attack would have been more dramatic and more Rocky Like since that is what they were going for here the entire film.  If you like Eminem's music, you will like him here.  He is a bit too comfortable in his neighborhood and some  of the things he does would have gotten him shot on the spot in real life, but hey, its a movie.  8-Milie is a great debut for Mr. Mathers and if he could play someone other than a variation of himself but with the same no holds barred style, then he may have a future in the movies. I would not be surprised if a 9-Mile is in his future.  Final Review:  3 stars out of 5; 6 1/2 out of 10; B; thumbs up.