Weekend Box Office: Madea Doubles Down At Number One, Inferno Goes Up In Flames

Patterns and signs play a major role in Dan Brown's inexplicably popular pseudo-symbological pulp thrillers, but none are as fascinating as the significance of the following number to the film adaptation of his books: 31.

$31 million is how much of a drop the opening of Angels and Demons (which debuted at $46 million in 2009) experienced from The Da Vinci Code's start ($77 million in 2006). Inferno, the latest Brown book-to-film conversion, dropped another $31 million, banking just $15 million its first weekend out.

You know you're having a rough start when you can't top two week old Madea, but Brown's Inferno won't find any solace in its company. The last time Tyler Perry's trademark character had a number one debut, it also held on for two weekends. Who did she dominate that time? Jonas Brothers: The 3D Experience.

Boo! A Madea Halloween not only held the top spot, it pushed past $50 million and proved it might have the staying power to become the first ever Tyler Perry project to break $100 million. The closest to date was Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail which topped out at $90 million.

Foreign drama _Ae Dil Hai Mushkil _opened with $2 million in just 300 venues, enough to barely break into the top ten, finally pushing _Deepwater Horizon_ out of the top ten. Deepwater has been languishing for the last month, and has still earned less than $100 million worldwide against its $110 million budget.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below: