Kutcher Kicks Ash at Box Office
 

Ashton Kutcher personally punk'd all flick comers this weekend.

Movie audiences couldn't get enough of the former That '70s Show space case as he landed his two new films, the critter cartoon Open Season and the all-wet action flick The Guardian, 1-2 at the box office, accounting for more than $40 million in ticket sales, per final studio figures released Monday.

Topping the list was Open Season, opening with $23.6 million. The PG-rated film, in which Kutcher voices a manic antler-challenged deer opposite Martin Lawrence's hunter-phobic bear, averaged $6,163 on 3,833 screens. Open Season is the first release from Sony's animation division and gave the studio a record 11th number-one opener this year.

The flesh-and-blood version of Kutcher did slightly less business as The Guardian tallied $18 million. Costarring Kevin Costner, the Coast Guard drama launched in 3,241 theaters and averaged $5,556, which distributor Disney said fell within studio expectations. In any case, it represented the best opening for Costner since another water-logged film, the much maligned Waterworld, which splashed in with $21.7 million way back in summer 1995.

The third major newcomer, School for Scoundrels, was bullied by last week's number one, Jackass: Number Two, and managed a weakling $8.6 million showing in fourth place. The nerd-revenge comedy, pitting Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder against Billy Bob Thornton, averaged $2,864 at 3004 locations.

Unspooling on 441 sites, Destination Films' faith-based drama Facing the Giants, about an underdog high school football team inspired by its God-fearing coach, scored $1.3 million on a $3,047 average to open in 12th place.

Meanwhile, in really limited release two Oscar-buzzing films did royally.