February 28, 2005 - Lions Gate's Diary of a Mad Black Woman shocked the box office this weekend, beating out two-week champ Hitch for the top spot.  The film, based on a play by writer and multi-role star Tyler Perry, debuted in first place with approximately $22.7 million.

Hitch, starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes, slipped to second place, bringing in an estimated $21 million during the Friday-to-Sunday period. The romantic comedy has grossed $122 million in three weeks.

Warner Bros.' Constantine, an adaptation of the Hellblazer comic, placed third with $11.8 million.

Cursed, the much-delayed horror-thriller from Scream team Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, opened in fourth with $9.6 million.

Man of the House, a film about Tommy Lee Jones hanging out with a bunch of cheerleaders, debuted in fifth place with $9 million.

Best Picture winner Million Dollar Baby dropped one notch to sixth with $7.2 million. Watch for it to get a little boost this weekend after picking up the Oscar.

Fox's Because of Winn-Dixie, from director Wayne Wang, dropped from third to seventh place with $6.8 million.

Are We There Yet?, starring Ice Cube, was eighth this weekend with around $4 million.

Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, a biopic of Howard Hughes starring Leonardo DiCaprio, placed ninth with an estimated $3.9 million.

And rounding out the top ten this week, we've got Son of the Mask fading fast with $3.8 million.

	Tyler Perry and Kimberly Elise in Lions Gate's Diary of a Mad Black Woman

Here's a look at the box office estimates...

Rank	Prior	Film Title	Distributor	Weekend	Total	Weeks	Theaters
1	-	Diary of a Mad Black Woman	Lions Gate	$22,700,000	$22,700,000	1	1483
2	1	Hitch	Columbia	$21,000,000	$122,008,000	3	3571
3	2	Constantine	Warner Bros.	$11,820,000	$50,751,000	2	3006
4	-	Cursed	Dimension	$9,564,000	$9,564,000	1	2805
5	-	Man of the House	Revolution	$9,000,000	$9,000,000	1	2422
6	5	Million Dollar Baby	Warner Bros.	$7,221,000	$64,728,000	11	2125
7	3	Because of Winn-Dixie	Fox	$6,750,000	$22,202,000	2	3188
8	6	Are We There Yet?	Columbia	$4,000,000	$76,366,000	6	2242
9	8	The Aviator	Miramax	$3,885,000	$93,790,000	11	1579
10	4	Son of the Mask	New Line	$3,775,000	$13,972,000	2	2966