By Franck Tabouring

Weekend of June 6 – 8, 2008

“Kung Fu Panda” defeated its competition at the North American box office this weekend with $60 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

DreamWorks Animation’s family adventure, about a lazy panda trying to learn the basics of kung fu, overpowered Adam Sandler’s new comedy “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” which debuted in second place with $40 million.

Released by Sony and directed by Dennis Dugan, “Zohan” stars Sandler as an Israeli commando who travels to the United States to become a hair stylist. The movie outperformed Sandler’s previous comedy “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry,” which opened with $34.2 million in 2007.

At No. 3, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” collected an impressive $22.8 million, reaching a domestic total of $253 million after only three weeks in release. Steven Spielberg’s sequel got ahead of last week’s box office champ “Sex and the City,” which slipped to fourth place with a weekend gross of $21.3 million.

New Line Cinema’s big-screen adaptation of the popular HBO series lifted its cumulative gross to $99.2 million after a strong two-week run. Directed by Michael Patrick King, the chick flick follows the adventures of Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her friends Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon).

Universal’s horror flick “The Strangers” dropped to No. 5 with $9.2 million, bringing its domestic total to $37.6 million. Directed by Bryan Bertino, the film stars Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler as a couple struggling to survive the invasion of their vacation home by three masked strangers.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s action spectacle “Iron Man” ranked in sixth this weekend with $7.5 million. The Jon Favreau-directed comic book adaptation, which stars Robert Downey Jr. as an industrialist-turned-superhero, reached a total haul of $288.8 million after six weeks in release.

Slipping to No.7 with $5.5 million was “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” which lifted its total gross to $125.8 million. Romantic comedy “What Happens in Vegas” followed in eighth place with $3.4 million, brining its cumulative to $72.2 million after a five-week run.

Two films rounded out the top 10: Universal’s comedy “Baby Mama” pulled in $779,000 at No. 9, while Sony’s “Made of Honor” followed at No. 10 with $775,000.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)