The nation's multiplexes were a moviehouse divided this weekend.

In one packed section: The family-friendly Chicken Little (first place, $40.1 million, per estimates from Exhibitor Relations). In another packed section: The Iraq war drama Jarhead (second place, $28.8 million on roughly 1,200 fewer screens than Chicken Little).

Both openings were strongish. And both openings were statements: Chicken Little proved Disney wouldn't necessarily lay an egg in CGI animation without its usual Pixar partner; Jarhead proved grownups will show up for grownup movies on an opening weekend.

Chicken Little, Disney's first CGI feature as a solo act, posted the best weekend opener for a 'toon since Madagascar's $47.2 million debut in May, per the stats at BoxOfficeMojo.com. It ran neck to leatherneck with Jarhead on Friday ($10.6 million), before blowing up big on Saturday ($17.4 million) and Sunday ($12.1 million) when children were more easily parted with their disposable allowances.

Jarhead, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, put up numbers comparable to Saving Private Ryan's 1998 opener, per Exhibitor Relations, and took honors as the year's biggest debuting R-rated drama based on a book that didn't have drawings. (Constantine and Sin City, currently 2005's top-grossing R-rated movies, were both based on comic books; Jarhead is based on Anthony Swofford's best-selling memoir.)

And that was about where the good news stopped for the weekend. The fact was, Disney CGI wasn't up to the box-office snuff of Pixar-produced CGI. If Chicken Little had been a Pixar film, its $40.1 million opening would have been the company's weakest since the original Toy Story debuted 10 long years ago with a then sizeable $29.1 million.

When compared to Pixar's most recent entry, The Incredibles, Chicken Little and its box office brethren fare worst of all. Last year, during the first weekend of November, The Incredibles opened with an incredible $70.5 million. This year, Chicken Little and Jarhead didn't make that much money combined. Overall, weekend business was down nearly 10 percent from this year to last.

In other news, Harry Potter arrives to try to save the box-office world on Nov. 18. Until then...

Defending box-office champ Saw II (third place, $17.2 million--$60.5 million overall) saw its take sawed in half. The Legend of Zorro (fourth place, $10 million--$30.3 million overall) looked zapped. And the forecast for the The Weather Man (eighth place, $2.9 million--$8.7 million overall) was continued drizzle with a fat chance of making back its modest $22 million budget in theaters.

The Fog (12th place, $2 million), meanwhile, disappeared from the top 10. In four weeks, the horror remake has grossed an estimated $28 million, or just $7 million more than the original film made 25 years ago when the average movie ticket cost $2.69, and iPods didn't cost anything because they didn't exist.

With mainstream fare such as The Fog slip, sliding away, Good Night, and Good Luck... (seventh place, $3.1 million--$11 million overall) and Shopgirl (ninth place, $2.5 million--$3.5 million overall) moved from the art house to the top 10.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films based on estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: