Q. How many times have the Top Three at the weekend box office been from the same studio?

For the first time in over 15 years, one movie studio—Sony Pictures—claimed the top three movies on a single weekend. During the Feb. 11-13, 2005, weekend, Sony became the first studio to achieve the feat, through a strategy of releasing a high volume of movies, including the opening of Hitch and the second weekend of Boogeyman, and the continued strength of the unexpectedly leggy Are We There Yet?.

The triple play is—and always has been—rare. But it was easier in the past, when movies lasted longer in theaters. With today's pictures being yanked from theaters prematurely or burning out quickly, it's more difficult for studios to stack the top three movies. For instance, Paramount was able to score trifectas four weekends in a row from late 1986 to early 1987 on the backs of long playing hits, Crocodile Dundee and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and the openings of the shorter-running Eddie Murphy picture The Golden Child and modest Richard Pryor comedy Critical Condition in a relatively docile market.

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