Weekend of April 3 – 5, 2009

“Fast & Furious” easily outraced its competition at the North American box office this weekend with a stunning $72.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The return of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in the lead roles proved to be quite lucrative, as the fourth installment in the popular series delivered a better opening weekend than any of its three predecessors.

Also doing pretty well this weekend was DreamWorks Animation’s “Monsters Vs. Aliens,” which took home another $33.5 million for a domestic total of $105.7 million after only two weeks in release.

At No. 3, “The Haunting in Connecticut” pulled in $9.5 million, reaching a total gross of $37.2 million. Starring Virginia Madsen, the Peter Cornwell-directed horror thriller follows a family experiencing supernatural events in their new home.

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"Fast & Furious" raced to the top of the North American box office Friday with a whopping $30.1 million in ticket sales.

The fourth installment in the popular series easily beat the $9.7 million opening day gross of its predecessor, "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift." In the Justin Lin-directed film, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker team up to infiltrate the operations of a drug lord. 

Things didn't go so well for "Adventureland," this week's second wide release. The Greg Mottola-directed comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart finished in sixth place and only pulled in $2.1 million. The movie follows a recent college grad who takes on a crappy job at an amusement park.

At No. 2, DreamWorks Animation's "Monsters vs. Aliens" took home another $8.9 million, lifting its total gross to $81.9 million. Following in thid place with $3.6 million was "The Haunting in Connecticut," which brought its domestic total to $31.3 million.

Meanwhile, "I Love You, Man" collected $2.7 million at No. 4, reaching a cumulative gross of $44.1 million. Nicholas Cage's latest thriller "Knowing" took home $2.6 million for a total of $52.7 million.

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

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.

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DreamWorks Animation's 3D-animated adventure "Monsters vs. Aliens" stormed the North American box office Friday with an estimated $16.7 million in ticket sales.

Directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon, the film follows a group of monsters trying to prevent a ruthless alien leader from destroying humanity. The voice cast includes Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett and Hugh Laurie.

Debuting in second place Friday with $9.5 million was Peter Cornwell's "The Haunting in Connecticut." Starring Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner and Amanda Crew, the horror thriller follows a family experiencing supernatural events in their new home.

Last week's winner "Knowing" dropped to No. 3, earning $4.6 million and lifting its cumulative gross to $36.1 million after two weeks in release. Directed by Alex Proyas, the film follows Nicholas Cage as a father trying to prevent a series of global disasters.

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