'Rio' Triumphs Over 'Scream 4' at US Weekend B-O

APRIL 18, 2011 - Moviegoers in the US flocked to Rio but shied away from Scream 4 over the weekend. Thanks to Rio and some decent holdovers, this was the first genuinely up weekend year-over-year since early November, boasting a nearly 11 percent increase over 2010, when Kick-Ass and How to Train Your Dragon led.

Rio led with an estimated US$40 million on approximately 6,400 screens at 3,826 locations, and its 3D presentations at 2,591 locations accounted for 58 percent of the gross. The animated comedy edged out Rango's US$38.1 million and Hop's US$37.5 million to claim the highest-grossing opening weekend of 2011 so far.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for April 15 - 17, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. Rio (Fox) $40.0 million ($40.0 million) 1

2. Scream 4 (W/Dim.) $19.2 million ($19.2 million) 1

3. Hop (Universal) $11.1 million ($82.6 million) 3

4. Soul Surfer (TriStar) $7.4 million ($19.9 million) 2

5. Hanna (Focus) $7.3 million ($23.3 million) 2