It looks like the studios' new scheme of holding as many movies as possible from critics is paying off. Two of the three new movies that opened in wide release on Friday were not screened in advance for critics ... and two of those three were in the top three.

Probably nothing short of an Indiana Jones movie would have bumped last week's winner, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, from the top spot, since everyone seems to love it so much (except me). And sure enough, it dropped less than 50 percent to earn another $25.1 million, which means it's now earned back its budget of $85 million ... which means we're sure to see more plundering of Dr. Seuss in coming years. Green Eggs and Ham: The Movie, anyone?

But at Nos. 2 and 3 are two movies that opened without reviews, and opened well. Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns debuted with a take of $20 million, and by far the best per-screen average of the top 10, at $9,975 (50 percent higher than Horton's). Critics who ventured out to the multiplex, including yours truly, to see it over the weekend were not impressed: they rated it only 33 percent Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences probably wouldn't have cared anyway, with Perry's track record of crowd-pleasing movies.

At No. 3, the PG-13 horror flick Shutter, which also went out unseen by critics, earned $10.7 million, and ended up only 7 percent Fresh among those critics who chose to see it anyway. It's enough to make you wonder whether studio honchos aren't debating whether they should have released the Owen Wilson comedy Drillbit Taylor -- this week's No. 4 movie with a take of $10.2 million -- without benefit of critical opinion as well. Maybe it would have done better than No. 4 without word of its 23 percent Fresh rating getting out before it opened.

Or maybe people just like bad movies. At No. 5, 10,000 B.C., which is terrible, also held strong in its third week, dropping less than 50 percent to earn an additional $8.7 million. It may actually earn back its budget, a horrifying prospect if it encourages Roland Emmerich to keep doing his thing and inflicting dumb, unentertaining movies upon us.

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MaryAnn Johanson (email me)
reviews, reviews, reviews! at FlickFilosopher.com

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