Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Better than 'Sex,' 3-D 'Shrek' tops box office again

LOS ANGELES—"Shrek Forever After," the first 3-D sequel about the gentle green ogre showed its staying power Monday, hanging onto the North American box office top spot for a second week, final data showed.

The fourth film of the Mike Myers-voiced animated series took in $55.6 million over the weekend, according to figures released by box office tracker Exhibitor Relations on Monday.

The movie beat out competition from new releases "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and "Sex and the City 2," which took the number two and number three box office spots respectively.

"Prince of Persia," a movie adapted from a video game series, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ben Kingsley, took $37.8 million in its first week in theaters.

"Sex and the City 2," the sequel movie following the love lives of the four girlfriends at the heart of the hugely popular television show, earned $37.1 million in receipts, despite dismal reviews.

Down two spots to number four was "Iron Man 2," featuring Robert Downey Jr. as unconventional super hero Tony Stark, which took in $20.3 million to bring its four-week earnings to a massive $278.8 million.

"Robin Hood," starring Russell Crowe as the legendary English outlaw, also fell two places, taking the number six spot with $13.6 million in weekend box office receipts.

The romantic drama "Letters to Juliet" took sixth place with 7.3 million dollars, ahead of romantic comedy "Just Wright," with a duo of rapper-actors Queen Latifah and Common, at $2.7 million.

In the number eight spot was "Date Night," starring comedy hot shots Tina Fey and Steve Carrell, which managed to rake in $2.3 million in its eighth week in theaters.

Down to ninth place was Saturday Night Live-inspired "MacGruber," which fell three places in its second week of release, earning $1.9 million.

Rounding out the top ten was "How to Train Your Dragon," an animated children's film, which took in 1.4 million dollars, bringing its 10 week total to $213 million.

Source: Showbizandstyle