'Notorious' Debuts at No. 4 at Box Office

The Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious landed in U.S. theaters over the weekend opening at No. 4 with $21.5 million, according to box office estimates.

The film about the late, legendary rapper Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, placed fourth after Kevin James’ Paul Blart: Mall Cop ($33.8 million), Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino ($22.2 million), and My Bloody Valentine 3-D ($21.9 million).

It’s the biggest opening ever for the movie’s distributor Fox Searchlight, which previously released critical favorites such as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine.

Notorious was playing in only 1,638 theaters nationwide compared to the 3,144 theaters No. 1 Paul Blart: Mall Cop was in.

The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend was up 31% from last year, and that was only for Friday through Sunday. The films will benefit from the holiday on Monday.