According to Boxofficemojo, Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail came out on top over the weekend at domestic theaters. As of early estimates, the film brought in over $40 million, proving that Tyler Perry's name can still sell tickets. This is great news for Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), which was looking to score a big hit after experiencing some weak performances at the box office.

Tyler Perry beat out News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) successful thriller Taken, which landed in the second spot. Coming in third was Coraline from General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) Focus Features, although those two films could change positions once final numbers are in. Both of them scored around the $11 million mark. Time Warner Inc's (NYSE: TWX) He's Just Not That Into You was fourth and News Corp.'s Slumdog Millionaire, the toast of the Oscars telecast last night, was fifth. Both of those features scored similar amounts, about $8 million each, so we'll see what happens with their respective rankings. Poor Jason Voorhees. Last week, his movie, Friday the 13th, killed at the box office. This week, the slasher dropped 80% in terms of gross and landed in sixth place after debuting in the top slot. Talk about a bloody decline for Time Warner. Horror movies do tend to go down fast after the opening weekend, but I thought this particular feature might exhibit more strength.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) had a great weekend at the domestic box office. According to Boxofficemojo, two of the company's film products, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, came in first and second, respectively, on the movie charts. This is the second weekend in a row at the top for Blart, and early estimates available at the time of this writing credit the comedy with $21.5 million for the three-day period. Underworld so far seems to have about $20.5 million in the bank, but whereas these are estimates, the numbers and rankings could change.

You've got to praise Sony for the marketing campaigns behind both features. The fact that Underworld virtually made as much as the more accessible comedy is pretty impressive to me. Those Underworld commercials were on all the right channels, and I bet they hit the demo that's still riding high from the success of Summit Entertainment's Twilight perfectly (in case you're not familiar, both pictures feature vampires). Twilight has so far grossed well over $180 million.

Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Gran Torino came in third, and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) modest performer, Hotel for Dogs, was fourth. That latter picture has barked up (it's a tradition in the trade to use goofy puns when covering box-office results, sorry) a total of approximately $37 million at this point. Not too great, to be honest. But News Corp.s (NYSE: NWS) Slumdog Millionaire is moving up in the ranks thanks to the Oscar nominations surrounding it and a wider release pattern. It increased in rank to fifth place and has achieved a total tally of $56 million. Look for this one to hit $100 million.