Toy Story 3 reigns box-office

Pixars latest offering has zoomed ahead of Adam Sandlers Grown Ups and Tom Cruises Knight And Day

Pixars latest offering has zoomed ahead of Adam Sandlers Grown Ups and Tom Cruises Knight And Day
The cartoon heroes of Toy Story 3 crushed Adam Sandler and Tom Cruises new releases to lead the North American box-office for a second weekend,according to studio estimates issued recently. Toy Story 3,from Walt Disney Cos Pixar Animation unit,sold about $59 million in tickets across the United States and Canada during the three days beginning last Friday. Woody,Buzz Lightyear and their pals hit $100 million internationally after a $36.1 million weekend in 32 countries representing 35 percent of the foreign market. Mexico has contributed $34 million,Disney said.

The Sandler-led ensemble comedy Grown Ups followed with a surprisingly strong $41 million and Cruises action comedy Knight And Day came in a distant No. 3 with a poor $20.5 million though not as bad as some pundits had forecast.
The 10-day haul for Toy Story 3 rose to $226.6 million,quickly making it the fourth-biggest movie of the year behind Alice In Wonderland,Iron Man 2 and Shrek Forever After, which leads it by just $3 million.

Grown Ups,a $70 million project from Sony Corps Columbia Pictures,marks the fourth-best opening of Sandlers consistently strong career. Sandler and co-stars Kevin James,Chris Rock,David Spade and Rob Schneider who play school buddies who reunite for fun times in their middle-aged years were ubiquitous on the promotion trail. Its the ultimate summer movie, said Rory Bruer,president of worldwide distribution at Columbia.

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But critics were less impressed,with the film scoring just a 10 per cent favourable rating on the aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Notwithstanding the stars average age of 45,just over half the audience was under 25,with moviegoers under 18 liking it the most,according to the studios research data. Women accounted for 53 per cent of ticket buyers.

KNIGHT AND DAY IS NO MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

Cruise,who turned 48 recently, skews to an older crowd,by contrast. Moviegoers aged 25 and above accounted for 56 percent of the audience for Knight And Day.

Its $20.5 million opening fell far short of Cruises last big movies 2006s Mission: Impossible IV with $48 million and 2005s War Of The Worlds with $65 million. It was on par with his most recent movie,the 2008 World War Two drama Valkyrie that played in fewer theatres.

Cruise plays a secret agent in Knight And Day,reportedly performing all of his own stunts. It also stars Cameron Diaz,who has not appeared in a $100 million-plus movie since the Charlies Angels sequel squeaked past that mark in 2003. Cruise and Diaz previously co-starred in 2001s Vanilla Sky.

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Critics gave sharply mixed reviews to the $107 million project that got a two-day head start by opening softly on last Wednesday through News Corps 20th Century Fox. Its five-day total stands at $27.8 million.

Knight And Day is the movie for smart audiences, said Chris Aronson,Foxs executive vice-president of distribution,forecasting the film would enjoy a long and healthy run with few rivals on the near-term horizon. It also earned $12.6 million from 12 international markets,opening at No. 1 in Russia,South Korea and Taiwan,Fox said.
Rounding out the top five were Sonys The Karate Kid with $15.4 million and Foxs The A-Team with $6 million. Their respective totals rose to $135.6 million and $62.8 million,both after three weekends.