Weekend of March 27 – 29, 2009

“Monsters vs. Aliens” easily destroyed its competition at the North American box office this weekend with a whopping $58.2 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

DreamWorks Animation’s latest 3D-animated family adventure follows a group of monsters assisting the U.S. government in trying to destroy a ruthless alien leader. The film’s voice cast includes Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen and Hugh Laurie.

Debuting at No. 2 this weekend with $23 million was Peter Cornwell’s horror thriller “The Haunting in Connecticut.” Starring Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner and Amanda Crew, the film follows a family experiencing supernatural events in their new home.

Last week’s winner “Knowing” dropped to third place, collecting $14.7 million and reaching a cumulative gross of $46.2 million after two weeks in release. The Alex Proyas-directed apocalyptic thriller stars Nicholas Cage as a professor struggling to prevent a series of global disasters.

Meanwhile, John Hamburg’s buddy comedy “I Love You, Man” took home another $12.6 million at No. 4, bringing its domestic total to $37 million. In the film, Paul Rudd stars as a recently engaged real estate agent who’s got no male friends and heads out to find the perfect best man.

Following in fifth place with a weekend gross of $7.5 million was Tony Gilroy’s “Duplicity,” which lifted its total haul to $25.6 million after a two-week run. Disney’s “Race to Witch Mountain” dropped to No. 6, taking home $5.6 million and reaching a total gross of $53.2 million.

This week’s third wide release, “12 Rounds,” only made it to No. 7, picking up $5.3 million in ticket sales at 2,331 locations. The Renny Harlin-directed action flick stars WWE superstar John Cena as a New Orleans detective who must complete 12 perilous challenges in order to save his kidnapped fiancée.

At No. 8, Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen” collected another $2.75 million for a domestic total of $103.2 million, while Pierre Morel's "Taken" grabbed $2.7 million in ninth place for a cumulative gross of $137 million.

Rounding out the top 10 was “The Last House on the Left,” which brought its total haul to $28.4 million after weekend earnings of $2.6 million.

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