Weekend Box Office: Moviegoers Fly To 'Rio'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Lots of folks went to Rio this weekend. Not travelers, moviegoers.

Rio, the animated comedy featuring the lead voices of Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway, finished first at the box office on its debut weekend, earning an estimated $40-million -- the biggest opening weekend of the year thus far.

Well behind but solidly in second place was Scream 4, the third sequel in the Scream franchise, which mixes horror with humor. It took in a respectable $19-million in its debut.

That dropped the ticket-selling leader of the last two weekends, Hop, another animated attraction, into third place in its third weekend of release with a take of $11-million.

The weekend's third new mainstream offering, The Conspirator, director Robert Redford's historical drama, also finished in the top ten, totaling $4-million, good for ninth place.

With the year's first $40-million opening and the high-profile summer season of potential blockbusters nearly upon us, the box office slump would appear to finally be over.

Reported by Bill Wine, KYW Newsradio 1060