WITH $12.7M, 'JONAS' BOYS TAKE A BACKSEAT TO 'MADEA'; 'SLUMDOG' HAS BIG BOUNCE (MBN)

By Paul Dergarabedian

The onus was on Jonas this weekend to make good at the box office and the boys took a back seat to Madea and the Tyler Perry moneymaking machine as "Madea Goes to Jail" nabbed the number one spot for the second consecutive weekend and solidified the Perry success as no fluke.

With nearly $65 million in collected bail money, "Madea" gave audiences the chance to escape to jail along with this extremely popular character and the results are impressive.

At number two was "Jonas Brothers: The 3-D concert Experience" - which your humble narrator overestimated in a big way as the film came with $12.7 million.

With visions of Miley Cyrus and her $31.1 million opening weekend dancing in my head, I certainly thought the Jonas' would have a shot at matching Miley's numbers.

Nonetheless, the film had the best per-theatre average in the Top 12 with nearly $10,000 in each of the 1,271 locations for the weekend.

At number three was the fabled "Slumdog Multi-Millionaire" which realized a huge 45% increase and will become a textbook case for how to release a film to not only Oscar gold, but huge box office success.

With another $12.1 million this weekend, and $115.1 million and counting, the film is a lock to become the highest grossing of the Best Picture nominees.

At number four, the very definition of 'legs' that is "Taken," continues to amaze with its stubborn unwillingness to leave the Top five and a miniscule 12% fifth weekend drop. The film now stands at $107 million in domestic receipts.

Rounding out the top five is "He's Just Not That Into You" which continues to hold steady as its nears the $80 million mark. "Streetfighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" debuted in the eighth spot with $4.6 million and generated a respectable per-theater average in just 1136 theaters.

Not a very strong weekend at the box-office, but still solid enough to beat last year�s frame by 11% as we watch out for the phenomenon that is "Watchmen" and its expected strong opening on March 6.