Lions Gate Film's comedy-dramaDiary Of A Mad Black Woman ruled the roost at the weekend, opening topon an estimated $22.7m.

The picture stars Kimberly Elise as a woman who learns on the eve of her 20thwedding anniversary that her husband wants to marry her best friend. DarrenGrant's picture opened to dire reviews and averaged an excellent $15,306 on1,483 screens.

Sony's Hitch fell one place to second in its third weekend on $21m for a$122m running total, while Warner Bros' Constantine added $11.8m for$50.8m in its second weekend after slipping one to third.

Opening in fourth place was Dimension's horror tale Cursed, whichstars Christina Ricci and Skeet Ulrich in Wes Craven's take on the werewolfgenre. It opened to poor reviews and averaged $3,409 on 2,805.

Opening one place behind Cursed in fifth place on $9m wasColumbia/Revolution's comedy Man Of The House, which stars Tommy LeeJones as an undercover agent who must masquerade as an assistant cheerleadingcoach. The critics despised it and Man Of The House averaged $3,715 on2,422.

Elsewhere, Warner Bros' Million Dollar Baby fell one to sixth in its 11thweekend for a $64.7m running total, Fox's Because Of Winn-Dixie slippedfour places to seventh on $22.2m after its second weekend, and The Aviator,distributed in North America through Miramax, fell one to ninth on $93.8m.

Next weekend's wide releases are: Buena Vista's family picture The Pacifierstarring Vin Diesel, MGM's caper Be Cool, starring $John Travolta andUma Thurman; and Warner Independent Picture's thriller The Jacket, whichstars Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley.

Estimated Top Ten US Feb 25-27 2005
Film (Distributor)/International distribution/Estimated weekend gross/Estimatedtotal to date
1 (-) Diary Of A Mad Black Woman (Lions Gate) LGI $22.7m -
2 (1) Hitch (Sony) SPRI $21m $122m
3 (2) Constantine (Warner Bros) Warner Bros Intl $11.8m $50.8m
4 (-) Cursed (Dimension) Miramax Int'l $9.6m -
5 (-) Man Of The House (Columbia/Revolution) SPRI $9m -
6 (5) Million Dollar Baby (Warner Bros) Warner Bros Int'l $7.2m $64.7m
7 (3) Because Of Winn-Dixie (Fox) Fox Intl $6.8m $22.2m
8 (6) Are We There Yet' (Columbia/Revolution) SPRI $4m $76.4m
9 (8) The Aviator (Miramax) Miramax Int'l $3.9m $93.8m
10 (4) Son Of The Mask (New Line) NLI $3.8m $13.9m