'How to Train Your Dragon' wins Friday race

DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" topped the North American box office Friday with an esimated $12.2 million in ticket sales. The real question is whether higher 3D ticket prices damaged the film's opening-day gross. As a comparison, last year's "Monsters vs. Aliens" took $16.7 million Friday, and both movies opened at almost the same amount of locations (approx. 4,010 theaters).

"How to Train Your Dragon" earned very positive reviews from the nation's top critics, and DreamWorks launched a decent marketing campaign to promote the film. The story follows a young Viking who wants to fight dragons but starts to see his views challenged when he meets an injured dragon he later befriends. The film is headed towards a decent weekend of possibily $40 million.

Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" finished second on the chart Friday, picking up another $4.7 million. The film's cumulative gross now stands at $280.5 million. New entry "Hot Tub Time Machine" debuted at No. 3 with $4.5 million. The comedy follows four friends as they head to a ski resport to party and then find themselves being transported back to 1986 after getting hammered in a hot tub.

At No. 4, "The Bounty Hunter" collected $4 million, lifting its domestic total to $30.4 million after one week in release. Following in fifth place was "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," which bagged $2.9 million for a total haul of $28.6 million. Look out for tomorrow's detailed weekend box office report.

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