weekend box office

‘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.

In news that will likely surprise exactly no one, ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1′ glittered and gored its way to a spectacular $139.5 million premiere this weekend, giving the latest film in the popular franchise the fifth-largest domestic opening in history.

In its second week of release, ‘Puss In Boots,’ the Antonio Banderas-voiced swashbuckling feline from the ‘Shrek’ franchise, pulled in $33 million in milk money to again take the top spot at the box office this weekend.

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.

Seventeen years after its initial box-office run, ‘The Lion King’ is again reigning supreme. The new 3D incarnation of the film, currently in a limited-engagement run, took in another $22 million to land atop the charts for the second weekend in a row.

In a limited engagement in 3D, the 1994 Disney classic, ‘The Lion King,’ earned $29 million to take the top spot at the box office this weekend. ‘Contagion,’ last week’s most popular movie, moved to second place, while Ryan Gosling’s ‘Drive’ took third in its debut week. Former box office champ ‘The Help’ came in fourth, and ‘Straw Dogs’ rounded out the top five.

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

Earning a total of $123 million at the box office in the month since its release, ‘The Help’ kept its number one spot in theaters for the third week in a row, becoming the first film to do so since last summer’s ‘Inception.’

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.

Boosted by unexpectedly strong word-of-mouth and generous reviews, 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' was number one for the second weekend in a row, becoming the top-grossing movie of 2011 thus far with a total take of $261.0 million. Coming in second, the Jennifer Aniston-featured dark comedy 'Horrible Bosses' earned an estimated $28.1 million, while the family flick 'Zookeeper' came in third with