http://movies.yahoo.com/news/va/2003...389163000.html
The new Jim Carrey movie "Bruce Almighty" bounced "The Matrix Reloaded" from the top spot at the North American holiday box office, setting a new record for a non-sequel comedy.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, "Bruce Almighty" earned $70.5 million for the first three days of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend. The Keanu Reeves sci-fi thriller "The Matrix Reloaded" slipped to a distant No. 2 with $37.2 million.

Data for other films was unavailable with most studios waiting until Monday to report four-day figures. Final grosses for the weekend will be released on Tuesday.

"Bruce Almighty," an $81 million project released by Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Pictures, stars Carrey as a disenchanted TV newsman given divine powers by God himself, played by Morgan Freeman . Universal produced the film with privately held Spyglass Entertainment.

Carrey's previous best opening was the 2000 film, "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," which also held the record for a non-sequel comedy with a three-day bow of $55.1 million. The best comedy opening overall is the 2002 comedy "Austin Powers in Goldmember" with $73.1 million.

Universal also predicted a four-day sum of $86.1 million, which would make "Bruce Almighty" the No. 2 opener for the four-day Memorial Day holiday following the $90.2 million launch for "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" in 1997.

Meanwhile, "The Matrix Reloaded" sped to $201.1 million after 11 days -- including evening screenings a day before it officially opened on May 15 -- becoming the second-fastest movie to reach a double century. The 2002 hit "Spider-Man" took nine days.

On Friday, the film's ninth day of release, it passed the lifetime total of its 1999 predecessor, "The Matrix" which ended up with $171 million. The films were released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc, which partnered on the series with Australia's Village Roadshow
ohhhh it kicked Matrix 2 down