Weekend Box Office: 'Rio' Continues To Soar
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Those Rio birds continues to fly high.
The animated attraction Rio, which had the year-to-date's best opening last weekend, finished in first place at the box office for a second straight time, earning an estimated $27 million.
Close behind was Madea's Big Happy Family, the new comedy from producer, director, and star Tyler Perry, which took in $26 million in its debut.
Third place with a total of $18 million was Water for Elephants, the debuting period drama based on the best-seller starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson.
The weekend's third new attraction African Cats, the nature documentary, opened with a take of $6 million, good for sixth place.
With the high-profile summer movie season just two weeks away, this was a hopeful weekend for the industry following the recent dry spell, with totals well ahead of those on the counterpart weekend last year.
Reported by Bill Wine, KYW Newsradio
