Cage Tops Cartoon Mogul

Gabor Csupo returns, but not to the top of the box office heap.

Klasky-Csupo might be pretty much kaput, but its founder has reincarnated himself as a live-action director, with solid results:

Not solid enough for #1, but good for a Place (#2) finish at the Friday box-office derby.

Big Nick Cage rode his flaming chopper (Ghost Rider) to #1. Rider's Friday estimates were $4,214 per theater, with a total take of $15,250,000.

Meanwhile, the Csupo-helmed fantasy Bridge to Terabitha (location by New Zealand, effx by WETA) took the 2nd slot ($1,969 per theater; a $6,180,000 total.)

Sunday Update: Mr. Csupo's directorial debut rakes in over $22 million in its opening weekend, which would have taken the "win" position on a lot of other weekends.

But not this one. Ghost Rider rumbles in to cop $44.5 million. So the flick filmed in Australia (Rider) whomps the one lensed in Kiwi land (Bridge).

And, of course, a lot of folks are off tomorrow, so the fun and greenbacks haven't ended yet.

Elsewhere on the list, the perennial favorite Night at the Museum hangs in at #10, running its total domestic gross to $237.3 million...

Pan's Labyrinth collects another $2.1 million and a total of $30 million...

And Happy Feet (#25) and Charlotte's Web (#23) are now almost gone, totalling $193.8 million for the penguin opus, and $81.3 million for the tale with the pig and spider...