LOS ANGELES: "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" the latest in the teen vampire movie franchise, sank its fangs into a hefty 69-million dollar share of box office receipts, making it the top weekend earner, industry estimates showed on Sunday.
The teen goth romance flick, which opened Wednesday, so far has racked up projected ticket sales of 161.7 million dollars in North America, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
In second place was the debut of "The Last Airbender," based on a popular television series in which beings are endowed with magical powers allowing them to control air, earth, water and fire.
Despite poor reviews, the movie sold 40.7 million dollars in tickets over the three-day weekend period.
Last week's box office champ, "Toy Story 3" -- the biggest-ever opener for animated filmmaker Disney/Pixar -- raked in 30.2 million dollars, for a total of 289 million dollars over three weeks.
Fourth place went to "Grown Ups," the Adam Sandler and Chris Rock comedy about a reunion of high school friends, which took 18.5 million dollars.
In fifth was "Knight and Day," an action comedy starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, earning 10.2 million dollars.
"The Karate Kid" fell two notches to sixth place, selling eight million dollars in tickets, while seventh place went to the action comedy "The A-Team," a remake of the 1980s television series about four rogue soldiers of fortune, which took in three million dollars.
Eighth place went to raunchy comedy "Get Him To The Greek" about a heroin-addicted rocker attempting a comeback in Los Angeles, with 1.18 million dollars in ticket sales.
"Shrek Forever After," the fourth and final instalment in the movies about the lovable green ogre, came in ninth place, with 799,000 dollars in receipts, for a grand total of 306.9 million dollars in tickets sold since its opening seven weeks ago.The 10th spot went to the offbeat romantic comedy "Cyrus" with 770,200 dollars in ticket sales in its third week of release.
