Well color me yellow with shock! The first weekend of “The Simpsons” opened to rave reviews (88% positive at Rotten Tomatoes) and did likewise at the box office, pulling in a very impressive $71 million in its first weekend, over $30 million more than was anticipated by industry experts. The film has performed equally well overseas, making nearly $100 million already. Not bad, for a movie made for $75 million, “on the cheap” by Hollywood standards, where anything that costs lest than $100 million is considered an “indie” movie. Last week’s champ, “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry”, fell to #2, but still managed $19 million, for a total of $71 in its first two weeks of release.

“Harry Potter” and the kids came in at #3 with $17 million, for a total of $241 million so far. Meanwhile, the Catherine Zeta-Jones romantic comedy cleared $11 million in its first weekend of release. Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan’s “I Know Who Killed Me” managed a measly $3 million in its first weekend of release, arriving at #9. I guess Lindsay’s fans aren’t as legion as she would believe. Either that, or getting caught with cocaine isn’t such a good thing, kids.

Here’s how the rest of the box office broke down over the July 28th weekend:

1 The Simpsons Movie $71,850,000
2 I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry $19,063,000
3 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix $17,065,000
4 Hairspray $15,550,000
5 No Reservations $11,755,000
6 Transformers $11,524,000
7 Ratatouille $7,234,000
8 Live Free or Die Hard $5,350,000
9 I Know Who Killed Me $3,400,000
10 Who’s Your Caddy? $2,900,000

(via)