Weekend Box Office | featured news

Johnny Knoxville and his "Jackass" gang are even bigger hits in three dimensions. Jackass 3D," their latest big-screen collection of crazy stunts and antics, opened with a whopping $50 million, soaring past the debuts of their first two movies, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Movie fans have bookmarked the Facebook drama "The Social Network" as their weekend favorite. David Fincher's saga about personality clashes and legal feuds among the website's founders took in $15.5 million to remain the No. 1 film for a second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Released by Sony, "The Social Network" raised its 10-day total to $46.1 million.

Greed proved to be simply good enough during the weekend. Fox's Michael Douglas starrer "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" topped the domestic box office with a good-but-not great $19 million in estimated opening coin. Once scheduled for spring release until postponed to adult-friendly fall, Oliver Stone's sequel to his original 1987 financial thriller may have been a bit hampered by the unavailability of its ailing topliner for promo stumping.

Film opens with $23.8 million to take the No. 1 spot. The intense Warner Bros. drama about bank robbers in an insular section of Boston earned rave reviews.

George Clooney's "The American" pulled ahead of "Machete" as the No. 1 movie in America, according to Sunday box office estimates. The Focus Features film earned $12.9 million, while Sony Screen Gems' "Takers" -- which led the box office last weekend -- came in No. 2 with $11.4 million.

Moviegoers wanted to get scared just as much as they wanted to enjoy a good crime caper this weekend, but very few were interested in a return trip to Pandora. Based on studio estimates released Sunday morning, indie horror film "The Last Exorcism" and heist film "Takers" were in a virtual dead heat, with both selling about $21 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada for the weekend.

Sylvester Stallone's "The Expendables" fought off an onslaught of newcomers to finish on top of the weekend box office again.

Maybe movie stars aren't so expendable. At a time when pricey talent is thought to yield diminishing returns for film studios, Lionsgate's star-studded "The Expendables" easily topped the weekend boxoffice with an estimated $35 million in domestic coin. The testosterone-spiked actioner outpaced an impressive $23.7 million bow by Sony's female-targeted Julia Roberts starrer "Eat Pray Love" in second place, while Universal's geek-seeking "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" debuted with a dismal $10.5 million in fifth place.

"The Other Guys" are the main guys at the boxoffice, knocking off "Inception" to take the No. 1 spot. The buddy-cop parody starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg made $35.6 million in its opening weekend, according to Sunday estimates from Sony Pictures.

"Inception" ruled the North American box office for a third weekend on Sunday, fending off three middling newcomers led by "Dinner for Schmucks" at No. 2.