Sony's comedy "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" recently topped the North American box office, reinforcing the conventional wisdom that bad economic conditions make comedies good performers.

近日，索尼电影公司的喜剧片《商场保安》成为北美票房榜冠军，验证了“经济越萧条，喜剧越吃香”这一说法。

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But the box office is also down 23% from 2009 when little movies like Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Taken were early season sleeper hits.

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So consider: Last week the top box-office draw in the country was "Max Payne" with Mark Wahlberg as an obsessed cop tracking down the killer who murdered his wife and child.

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