But in theaters across the country, where the movie came in a distant second to last week's chart-topper "Iron Man," audiences modified it to, "No, 'Speed Racer,' no."

That was especially true in Inland Southern California, where the movie came in third place behind "Iron Man" and the Cameron Diaz-Ashton Kutcher screwball romantic comedy "What Happens in Vegas."

"'Iron Man' is not worried," said Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com, which follows the industry. "The film has been cheered by critics and audiences, plus competition from new films is not too strong."

Inland audiences were out in full force this weekend: The top four movies overperformed in the Inland area, and the box office in the region was up 19 percent over the same weekend last year.

That good news wasn't just a regional trend, either. Nationally, the box office was up 17 percent, according to the Movie Marketplace.

For "Iron Man," that translated to a national per-theater average of $12,284. In the Inland region, where audiences gravitate toward action movies and PG-13 movies, the film had a per-theater average of $16,899.

The Inland area's No. 2 movie, "What Happens in Vegas," had a per-theater average in the region of $8,511, compared with $6,221 nationally.

"Speed Racer" made $6,545 per theater in the Inland area, compared with $5,605 nationally.

While the national per-theater average is lower than the national per-theater average for "What Happens in Vegas," "Speed Racer" opened in more theaters, which may help explain why it made it to the No. 2 spot nationally.

In the region, "Speed Racer" was in 31 theaters, while "What Happens in Vegas" was in only 28 theaters.

"Drillbit Taylor," in its eighth week of release, is at No. 9 on the regional top 10. It made $3,337 per theater in the region, more than "Made of Honor," which made $3,215 per theater in the region during its second week of release.

* Remember when you were a kid, and you'd finger paint, and you'd fight to get every single color of that smelly tempera paint on the 8.5-by-11-inch page, and sometimes they'd smear together and create new bright colors? That's what "Speed Racer" looks like. In action. For more than 2 hours. Dude, the original shows were 22 minutes because that's about how long you can sustain action like that without inducing seizures. For people who like challenging themselves to not throw up, you can catch it at Edwards Ontario Palace Stadium 22, 4900 E. 4th St., Ontario.

* Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher are adorable and goofy on their own, so I'm gonna guess "What Happens In Vegas" is an adorable and goofy romantic comedy. I mean, we all know what's going to happen in the end, but that's why they call them romantic comedies and not romantic tragedies. "Romeo and Juliet" ain't exactly a feel-good plot.*

* David Mamet's "Redbelt," which looks like a cross between "State and Main" (a Mamet movie) and "The Karate Kid" (not a Mamet movie), opens wider this weekend. I love love Chiwetel Ejiofor (I better learn how to pronounce his name -- I sometimes throw in a "Q" sound for no good reason) and am intrigued to see any movie that casts him alongside Tim Allen and Joe Mantegna.

*Though some people might disagree, preferring a romance that ends in death to a romance that itself dies.

Yes, much of the game is spent shooting at people and exhibiting a blatant disregard for anything resembling safe driving.

But there's more to the game than the stuff that has parents' groups and other mediators mad at it.

For people willing to look beyond the ability to pick up ladies of the evening, there are redeeming qualities to this game.

For one, the design. The game takes place in Liberty City, a stand-in for New York, and the attention to detail is astounding. For example, rather than being a uniform asphalt gray, the streets show the wear and tear of city traffic: oil stains, random grit gathered along the curbs, repair patches that are darker than the rest of the street.

Shadows of bridges and buildings move as time in the game progresses. And each car in the game has its own realistic driving quirk: If you're driving that massively oversized SUV, it doesn't accelerate well, and handles like an elephant. If you're in a sports car, it jumps over hills with very little encouragement. And that long 1970s sedan will fishtail if you take a corner too quickly.

There is humor in the game, as well. Ricky Gervais and Katt Williams do stand-up shows in one bar in the city, and a Russian bar features an acrobatic cowboy show and a lounge act.

The ads and radio programs mock current TV shows and trends, including "America's Next Top Model" and talk radio.

In-game games such as pool, bowling and darts require real skill (the pool game in particular uses real-world physics, letting you make bank shots that will have you standing up with excitement ... OK, maybe that's just me).

The story is thought-provoking for gamers patient enough to sit through the cut scenes. Niko, a former Serbian soldier, comes to the United States to try to make his fortune. But he finds that the fresh start he thought he was getting by moving to America won't come without the violence he thought he was leaving behind.

Some critics have compared the game to the film "The Godfather," and while many people (myself included, at first) balk at the idea that anything about a video game could possibly compare to an American masterpiece of film, it's an idea that has merit.

There's the organized crime that Niko eventually must be part of, but there's also the idea that being successful in America comes at a higher price for some people than for others.

Niko is not happy that he's having to fall back on violence to get the money and power that he equates with success. And that's an important realization to make.

There's something wistful, almost naive, about his idea of America, and it is sad that, like Michael Corleone, he keeps getting pulled back into society's underbelly just when he thinks he's through with it.

One of the biggest statements the game makes is with its Statue of Liberty -- or rather, the Statue of Happiness.

Rather than holding a torch to light the way for immigrants, the Statue of Happiness is carrying a styrofoam coffee cup. In America, commerce equals happiness.

And according to game sites, inside the statue is a chained, beating heart.

Shooting people and stealing cars? No, the game is certainly about more than that.

The film's success was pretty well-predicted, even by people who tried to downplay it by saying that sure, it would be good, but nowhere near "Spider-Man's" numbers (*cough-Paul Dergarabedian-cough*).

And while that's true, it still did better than the $70 million open predicted by most experts.

Considering it's not even the most famous marquee Marvel character (the roster includes the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Hulk), it was still an impressive opening, raking in more than $104 million, about $1.08 million of that in the Inland Empire. It overperformed here, too, making $35,956 per theater. Nationally, it scared up $24,543 per theater.

Considering it's a PG-13 action movie, its success in this region wasn't too big a surprise. After all, the movie made money in every market, even foreign markets.

Then there's "Drillbit Taylor," about as far away from "Iron Man" as a movie can get: lower-brow humor, goofy plot, and made for less than 25 percent of "Iron Man's" budget.

Yet, the movie made a miraculous recovery on the IE charts this weekend.

The film opened in fourth place on March 21, but dropped from there, falling off the regional top 10 by April 11.

This weekend, however, it made enough money to score the sixth spot on the regional top 10, even though it's only showing in five area theaters, at least two of which are second-run theaters.

Its per-theater average in the Inland area was $7,504, second only to "Iron Man's" take and beating the per-theater average for "Made of Honor" at $5,387.

So, apparently, the IE's love for PG-13-rated slapstick comedies outweighed our love for romantic comedies and, well, almost everything else this weekend.

The movie saw an unprecedented uptick in attendance from last week: Its take had a 1,566.77 percent change over the previous week.