"Despicable Me," an animated 3-D film in which a villain tries to pull off the world's greatest crime, was the top earner at North American theaters this weekend, reaping 60.1 million dollars, industry estimates showed Sunday.
Last week's top earner, vampire romance "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" came in second, with an estimated 33.4 million dollars, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Third place went to "Predators," an update of a 1987 sci-fi classic about CIA-hired commandos hunted in the Central American jungle by an alien predator. It earned 25.3 million dollars in its debut.
"Toy Story 3" which took fourth place with 22 million dollars in receipts, has racked up 340.2 million dollars over four weeks, Exhbitor Relations said.
"The Last Airbender," about beings endowed with powers to control air, earth, water and fire, was fifth with 17.2 million dollars.
In sixth place was "Grown Ups," the Adam Sandler and Chris Rock comedy about a reunion of high school friends, with 16.4 million dollars.
"Knight and Day," an action-comedy starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, earned 7.9 million dollars for seventh place.
Eighth place went to "The Karate Kid," with 5.7 million dollars in receipts, while ninth went to the "The A-Team," a big screen remake of the 1980s television series about four rogue soldiers of fortune, which took in 1.8 million dollars.
The offbeat romantic comedy "Cyrus" locked up the 10th place spot, with projected earnings of 1.4 million dollars.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
