A No. 1 Film for the Coen Brothers

The top four films at the box office over the weekend were new releases, with “Burn After Reading,” the new comedy from the filmmaker brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, right, leading the field. Earnings of $19.4 million made for a record opening for a Coen brothers film and a Focus Features release, according to Media by Numbers, a box office tracking firm. Coming in second was “Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys” (LionsGate), written and directed by Mr. Perry, which made $18 million. The police action drama “Righteous Kill” (Overture Films), starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, earned $16.5 million for third place, and “The Women” (Picturehouse), based on both the 1936 play by Clare Boothe Luce and the 1939 film directed by George Cukor, came in fourth with $10.1 million. The only holdover from last week’s Top 5 was “House Bunny” (Columbia), which made $4.3 million over the weekend, good enough for fifth place, and has earned $42.15 million in four weeks.