LOS ANGELES — Denzel Washington's reunion with Spike Lee put them on the inside track at the box office.

Their bank-hostage thriller "Inside Man," an unusually commercial project for director Lee, debuted as the No. 1 weekend film with $29 million — the best opening ever for both the filmmaker and his star, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Universal's "Inside Man" knocked off the previous weekend's top movie, the Warner Bros. action tale "V for Vendetta," which slipped to second with $12.3 million.

Disney's fright flick "Stay Alive," featuring Frankie Muniz in a tale about a video game that brings death to its players, premiered in third place with $11.2 million.

The weekend's other new wide release, Lionsgate's "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector," a gross-out romp starring comic Dan Whitney investigating a food poisoning outbreak, opened at No. 7 with $7.05 million.

Stung by declining revenues over the last year, Hollywood broke out of its latest slump, with the top-12 movies grossing $98.9 million, up 10.6 percent from the same weekend a year ago. The upswing followed a month of declines.

"Inside Man," starring Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen in a story of cops against robbers during a Manhattan bank heist, exceeded box-office expectations for distributor Universal, which had figured on a $20 million weekend at best.

1. "Inside Man," $29 million.

2. "V for Vendetta," $12.3 million.

3. "Stay Alive," $11.2 million.

4. "Failure to Launch," $10.8 million.

5. "The Shaggy Dog," $9.1 million.

6. "She's the Man," $7.4 million.

7. "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector," $7.05 million.