Dolphin Tale | featured news

Boxing robots are the undisputed champions at the weekend box office. According to studio estimates Sunday, Hugh Jackman’s “Real Steel,” set in a near-future when robot fighters have replaced humans in the ring, debuted at No. 1 with $27.3 million. “Real Steel” added $22.1 million overseas for a worldwide total of $49.4 million. The movie casts Jackman as a former boxer reluctantly thrown together with his young son as they turn a junkyard robot into a world-class contender.

FRIDAY 10:30 PM UPDATE: Here are the Top 10 movies at the North American box office tonight. Analysis coming: 1) Real Steel (DreamWorks/Disney) NEW [3,440 Theaters] Friday $8.7M, Estimated Weekend $27M; 2) The Ides Of March (Smokehouse/Sony) NEW [2,199 Theaters] Friday $3.7M, Estimated Weekend $11M; 3) Dolphin Tale (Alcon/Warner Bros) Week 3 [3,478 Theaters] Friday $2.4M, Estimated Weekend $8.5M, Estimated Cume $48.4M

Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros.' inspirational Dolphin Tale took the No. 1 spot in its second weekend with $14.2 million, wresting the box office crown from fellow family pic The Lion King. Dolphin Tale fell only 27 percent--proving again the clout of an A+ CinemaScore—and ended the weekend with a domestic cume of $37.5 million. The movie's staying power is a victory for Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove's Alcon, the same production company behind The Blind Side, another film that played to both general moviegoers and faith-based audiences.

Jaws dropped in Hollywood on Sunday: For the second weekend in a row, a 17-year-old movie, “The Lion King,” was No. 1 at the North American box office. That animated film, re-released by Walt Disney Studios in 3-D, took in an estimated $22 million for a two-week total of $61.7 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles ticketing statistics.

This week at the movies, we?ve got baseball nerds (Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill), aquatic rehab (Dolphin Tale, starring Harry Connick Jr. and Morgan Freeman), an assassin-dodging teen (Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner and Lily Collins), and a tough-guy showdown (Killer Elite, starring Jason Statham and Clive Owen). What do the critics have to say? Do you love The Natural, but wish the movie had found time to take a closer look at Roy Hobbs?s OPS and weighted on base average?