''Fockers'' rules for third straight week

Apparently, there were still quite a few people left in America who hadn’t yet met the Fockers. Meet the Fockers reigned atop the box office chart for a third straight weekend, earning an estimated $28.5 million. In three weeks, it’s earned $204.3 million, making the in-law comedy the sixth highest-grossing movie of 2004.

It was a good weekend for Universal, as the studio owned the top two slots at the box office. White Noise, in which Michael Keaton believes his wife’s ghost is haunting his TV, got a surprisingly strong reception, opening with $24 million. That’s far better than the studio’s expectations for the horror film, which were below $20 million.

Holding at No. 3 was The Aviator, which took off with another $7.6 million of moviegoers’ money. It edged out Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, which slipped two spots to No. 4 but earned $7.4 million, enough to make it the ninth Jim Carrey movie to top $100 million. Down one notch was Fat Albert, coming in fifth with $6 million.