weekend box office

.'Despicable Me 2' cashed in on a dominating opening weekend. The family friendly animated feature came in first and blew away the other films in theaters over the long weekend.

You could say ‘The Hunger Games’ did well in its debut, but that would be a vast understatement — with $155 million in revenues, the film adaptation of the best-selling novel left the other movies in the dust and moved easily to the top of the charts this weekend.

With no new movies opening in wide-release this weekend, there was little to challenge the powerhouse known as ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1,’ which earned $16.9 million and easily kept its berth as the top-earning film for the third weekend in a row.

‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1′ continued to dominate at the box office this weekend, earning $42 million to easily retain its top spot on the charts.

The swashbuckling feline from the ‘Shrek’ franchise, ‘Puss In Boots,’ still has plenty of lives to spare after its weekend haul of $34 million, putting it at the top of the charts in its first week of release.

‘Paranormal Activity 3,’ the third installment in the horror film franchise, received a warm welcome at the box office this weekend, earning $54 million and a spot at the top of the charts in its first week of release.

A new release, the futuristic Hugh Jackman boxing tale ‘Real Steel,’ took in $27.3 million to become the top earner at the box office this weekend.

It took a global epidemic to do it, but ‘The Help’ has finally been knocked out of the number one spot at the box office after three weeks at the top of the list. The Steven Soderbergh-directed ‘Contagion,’ about a deadly and fast-spreading disease and the panic it causes, earned $23.1 million at theaters in its first week of release, relegating ‘The Help’ to a runner-up status. The mixed-martial

‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ was number one again this week, joining ‘Thor’ and ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ as one of only three films this summer to hold the top spot for two weekends in a row. The film adaptation of the best-selling novel, ‘The Help,’ came in second, with horror flick ‘Final Destination 5,’ previous weekend box-office champ ‘The Smurfs,’ and the low-budget action comedy

Two new films — ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘The Change-Up’ — premiered in the top five in this weekend’s best box-office earners, coming in at number one and number four, respectively. Last weekend’s top films, ‘The Smurfs’ and ‘Cowboys & Aliens,’ moved to the second and third-place slots. Here’s a recap of all five of this weekend’s best box-office earners.

Though it wasn't what one might call a "super" performance, J.J. Abrams' alien-adventure movie 'Super 8' took the top spot at the box office this weekend with a healthy $37.0 million, opening slightly higher than expected. That was more than enough to edge out last week's champ, 'X-Men: First Class,' which dipped 55 percent to earn just $25.0 million.

Once again, an animated movie found itself ruling the weekend box office. In this case, it was 'Rio.' The high-flying kids' movie, which features the voice talent of Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg and more, pulled in an estimated $40 million, making it the year's best opening thus far. Coming in at a distant second was the much-anticipated 'Scream 4,' which opened with an underwhelming $19.3 milli