Resident Evil Crushes Box Office Competition

It was a slow weekend at multiplexes, and Resident Evil was the runaway winner.

KYW movie critic Bill Wine reports that with no other mainstream titles turning up and the playing field pretty much to itself, 3D horror/sci-fi Resident Evil: Afterlife easily won the weekend box-office crown.  The fourth installment of the series earned an estimated $28-million in its debut -- the most successful opening in the franchise's history -- and no other title came close.

Second place belonged to the holdover thriller, Takers, which took in a mere $6-million. Last weekend's leader -- the George Clooney suspense thriller, The American -- was third with a total of just under $6-million in its second weekend.

Rounding out the top five were Machete and Going the Distance. Overall, it was an abysmal box-office weekend, the slowest in two full years.