Rasputia (left) played by 2007 Oscar nominee, Eddie Murphy, confronts her husband Norbit (also played by Murphy) in a scene from the hilarious 'Norbit'.

los angeles (ap)

Movie fans were eager to get three Eddie Murphys for the price of one.

Murphy's comedy Norbit, in which he plays three wildly-different roles, opened as the top weekend movie with US$33.7 million (euro25.91 million), according to studio estimates yesterday.

Norbit, a Paramount-DreamWorks release, easily beat the debut of the MGM-Weinstein Co. thriller Hannibal Rising, a prequel about The Silence of the Lambs serial killer Hannibal Lecter that came in at number two with US$13.35 million.

Murphy had not had a starring role in a movie since 2003's The Haunted Mansion, but Norbit benefited from the huge acclaim and publicity he has received for Dreamgirls, for which he is expected to win the supporting-actor Academy Award.

Wow, Eddie!

"He wasn't that visible on marquees in huge hits for a while, then suddenly every time you turn around, it's 'Wow, what a surprise. Eddie is great'," said DreamWorks spokesman Marvin Levy.

The year's biggest opening so far, Norbit still was not able to lift Hollywood out of a box-office funk that has seen revenues fall for six straight weekends. The top-12 movies took in $91.3 million, down 10.5 per cent from the same weekend in 2006, when The Pink Panther and Final Destination 3 both debuted in the $20 million range.

Norbit marked the 14th number-one opening for Murphy and came in well above the expectations of distributor Paramount, which had projected the movie might pull in about US$25 million over the opening weekend.

The movie was trashed by critics, but the lure of Murphy again handling multiple roles as he did in Coming to America and The Nutty Professor flicks proved irresistible for audiences. Murphy plays mild-mannered Norbit, his grossly-overweight and overbearing wife and a Chinese orphanage owner who raised him.

Dreamgirls, another Paramount-DreamWorks release, also remained in the top 10 with US$3.1 million, lifting its total to US$97.1 million. Murphy also has another sure hit coming in May with DreamWorks' animated sequel Shrekthe Third, in which he reprises his voice role as gabby sidekick Donkey.

"It really doesn't get much better than this for an actor at this point in your career," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "This is a guy whose career has spanned over two decades, and he's still as viable a box-office star as anyone out there."

Psychopath Lecter, however, has lost his box-office luster. With French actor Gaspard Ulliel starring as a young version of the killer, played in three films by Anthony Hopkins, Hannibal Rising was savaged by critics and drew only modest crowds.

Sony Pictures Classics' The Lives of Others, a German film nominated for the foreign-language Oscar, debuted strongly in limited release with $222,727 in 13 theatres. The film follows a playwright and actress under surveillance by police in 1980s East Berlin.

Listed below are the top-10 estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at United States and Canadian theatres, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. Norbit, $33.7 million

2. Hannibal Rising, $13.35 million

3. Because I Said So, $9 million

4. The Messengers, $7.2 million

5.Night at the Museum, $5.75 million

6. Epic Movie, $4.45 million

7. Smokin' Aces, $3.8 million

8. Pan's Labyrinth, $3.55 million

9. Dreamgirls, $3.1 million

10. The Queen, $2.5 million

Ben Stiller stars as Larry Daley in the hilarious 'Night at the Museum'. - contributed photos