"Cars" races to top of North American box office

Pixar's animated comedy "Cars" raced to the top of box office in North America over the weekend, bringing in an estimated 62.8 million dollars, according to estimates released by box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations in Los Angeles Sunday.

However, the movie about personality-driven cars debuted fairly average for a film from Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Co.

"The Incredibles," for example, opened with 70.5 million dollars in November, 2004, while "Finding Nemo" brought in 70.3 million when it debuted in May, 2003.

In second place this week was last week's winner, "The Break Up, " which was likely helped by reports of an off-screen romance between stars Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. The romantic comedy about a couple who break up but still share the same apartment brought in an estimated 20.5 million dollars over the weekend.

"X-Men: The Last Stand" came in third with about 15.6 million dollars, according to Exhibitor Relations. The figures reflect the Friday-to-Sunday period.

Meanwhile, "The Omen," a remake of the 1970s horror, was in the fourth place with 15.5 million dollars. The film has grossed some 35.7 million dollars since its debut on Tuesday to take advantage of the date 6/6/06, or so-called "number of the Beast" 666.

In fifth place was Dreamworks' animated comedy "Over the Hedge, " which brought in about 10.3 million dollars, and "The Da Vinci Code" was not far behind with about 10.3 million.

The top 12 movies this weekend grossed an estimated 148.8 million dollars, up 7.8 percent compared with the 138.1 million grossed over the same weekend last year. Last weekend, the top 12 films grossed 129.2 million dollars.

Source: Xinhua