Pixar celebrated its tenth straight No. 1 wide-release opening this weekend with Up, which topped the box office with $68.2 million. Receipts were driven up by higher prices for the 3D experience, but even with that sales boost, Up turned in only the fourth biggest opening of 2009, behind Wolverine, Star Trek, and, yes, Fast & Furious. But it did best the year’s other 3D animated contender, Monsters Vs. Aliens, which opened with $59.3 million (and just dropped out of the top 10 this weekend after an impressive nine weeks).
Sam Raimi’s return to horror also fared reasonably well: Drag Me To Hell had a solid third-place opening with $16.63 million, far bigger numbers than the director is used to seeing for his horror films, but nowhere close to the blockbuster digits he’s seen with the Spider-Man franchise in the last few years.
The rest of the top 10 saw significant drops over last week, but the box office still held steady with last year’s numbers. Last week’s big opener, Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian dropped 53 percent to No. 2 with $25.5 million, which was still enough to push the sequel well over the $100 million mark in its second week. Terminator Salvation took an even bigger tumble, to the tune of 62 percent, down to No. 4 with $16.14 million. Star Trek had the strongest holdover from last week, dropping just 44 percent to No. 5 with $12.8 million, ahead of Angels & Demons, which fell to No. 6 with $11.2 million in its third frame. Dance Flick took the No. 7 spot with $4.9 million in its second week, ahead of X-Men Origins: Wolverine at No. 8 ($3.9 million) and Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past at No. 9 ($1.9 million), both in their fifth week. And after five surprisingly strong weeks, Obsessed makes what’s likely to be its final showing in the top 10, rounding things out at No. 10 with $665,000.
More detailed numbers can be found at boxofficemojo.com.