Over a weekend that produced way higher box office returns than expected, the Kevin James comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop was the big winner, debuting to the tune of $33.8 million. This is just counting the Friday-Sunday box office, and studios will rake in even more on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Across the board, the box office for this holiday weekend is up 31% over last year (and again, this is just Friday-Sunday). The 3-D horror flick My Bloody Valentine opened in third place with $21.9 million, just barely pushing out another newcomer, Notorious, which earned $21.5 million. As Lionsgate points out, "3-D runs turned in revenues four times greater than conventional runs, thanks to higher ticket prices."

Ahead of both of those with $22.2 million, however, is the little Clint Eastwood film that could: Gran Torino. And rounding out the top five in fifth place is the new family film, Hotel for Dogs with $17.7 million.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures