Top 10

The top 10 films at the box office over the weekend, with dollar figures in millions: 1. Shark Tale, $31.7 2. Friday Night Lights, $20.6 3. Ladder 49, $13.3 4. Taxi, $12.05 5. The Forgotten, $7.5 6. Raise Your Voice, $4.6 7. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, $2.3 8. Shaun of the Dead, $1.6 9. The Motorcycle Diaries, $1.4 10. Resident Evil: Apocalypse, $1.25

Friday Night Lights, based on the real-life fervor for high school football in small-town Odessa, Texas, debuted in second place with $20.6 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Another holdover, the firefighting drama Ladder 49, came in third with $13.3 million, while the Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon action comedy Taxi had a so-so opening weekend of $12.05 million to place fourth.

The weekend's other new wide release, Hilary Duff's teen tale Raise Your Voice, debuted at No. 6 with $4.6 million.

Expanding to wider release after two weeks in a limited run, The Motorcycle Diaries broke into the top 10, grossing $1.4 million for ninth place. The film chronicles a road trip taken by the young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and a pal across South America.

With the family audience almost to itself, Shark Tale held up especially well, its haul down just 33 percent from opening weekend. The movie lifted its 10-day total to $87.7 million.

Based on H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger's 1990 best-seller, Friday Night Lights stars Billy Bob Thornton as Permian High School football coach Gary Gaines as he steers his team toward a championship run.

The movie had been aimed largely at young males, but it captured a fairly wide audience, with 54 percent of viewers older than 25 and women making up 44 percent of the crowds, according to distributor Universal Studios.

"I think it's the fact that it's a true story, and the fact that is has a lot of heart, which bodes well even for females," said Nikki Rocco, Universal head of distribution.

Among the new movies, Friday Night Lights earned high marks from critics, while reviewers trashed Taxi and Raise Your Voice.

"You can really attribute the gross on Friday Night Lights' to the strong reviews," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "It's a football movie and has appeal to a lot of high schoolers at this time of year, but much of the audience for a movie like that decides to see a movie based on reviews."

In limited release, Billy Crudup and Claire Danes' Stage Beauty did solid business, opening with $39,000 in three theaters.

The techno-thriller Primer, the top dramatic prize winner at last winter's Sundance Film Festival, also debuted in three theaters and pulled in $30,360.