'Rio' speaks louder than 'Madea,' repeats at No. 1

[April 25, 2011]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg's talking birds have edged out Tyler Perry's sass-talking grandma at the weekend box office.

Hathaway and Eisenberg's animated family adventure "Rio" took in $26.8 million to remain the No. 1 movie for the second-straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family" debuted a close second with $25.8 million, another solid opening for writer-director Perry, who also stars as boisterous, opinionated grandma Madea.

Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson's circus romance "Water for Elephants" premiered in third-place with $17.5 million.

"It's nice to have two movies in the top-three," said Bert Livingston, distribution executive for 20th Century Fox, which released both "Rio" and "Water for Elephants."

The weekend's other new wide release, Disney's nature documentary "African Cats," opened at No. 6 with $6.4 million.

Morgan Spurlock's product-placement documentary "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" opened with fair but unremarkable business in limited release.

The latest from the maker of the hit documentary "Super Size Me" took in $135,139 in 18 theaters, averaging $7,508 a cinema. That compares to an $11,254 average in 2,288 theaters for "Madea's Big Happy Family," which had by far the best cinema average among the top-10 movies.

Hollywood scored its second-straight weekend of rising revenues, good news for studios that have been in a box-office slide since last fall.

Receipts totaled $138 million, up 39 percent from the same weekend last year, when "How to Train Your Dragon" was No. 1 with $15.4 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

The upward trend likely will continue next weekend with "Fast Five," the latest movie in "The Fast and the Furious" action franchise, expected to have a huge opening, said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

"I think we're going to have three up weekends in a row, and for us, that's a roll. We've been down for so long," Dergarabedian said. "It really points out how cyclical this business is."

A love-bird story centered on rare parrots, "Rio" raised its domestic total to $81.3 million. The movie has taken in $204.7 million more overseas, for a worldwide haul of $286 million.

"Rio" held on well to its audience, revenues dropping a scant 32 percent in the second weekend, while "Water for Elephants" came in a bit above industry expectations.

Adapted from the best-selling novel, "Water for Elephants" features Witherspoon as the star of a Depression-era circus, with Pattinson co-starring as a veterinarian who falls for her despite her jealous, tyrannical husband.

"It felt like old-time filmmaking for me and I think for the audience," Livingston said. "I think it's going to play for a long time. People are going to talk about it."

While Perry's latest "Madea" flick was unable to knock "Rio" off its perch, the filmmaker has been a prolific and consistent box-office earner, averaging two movies a year for distributor Lionsgate over the last four years.

"He has the most loyal fan base that I certainly have ever been associated with," said David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate. "They just continue to come out and flock to the cinemas and see his movies, whether it's a drama or comedy. He knows how to speak to his audience."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Rio," $26.8 million.

2. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family," $25.8 million.

3. "Water for Elephants," $17.5 million.

4. "Hop," $12.5 million.

5. "Scream 4," $7.2 million.

6. "African Cats," $6.4 million.

7. "Soul Surfer," $5.6 million.

8. "Insidious," $5.4 million.

9. "Hanna," $5.3 million.

10. "Source Code," $5.1 million.

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Online:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice/

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

[Associated Press; By DAVID GERMAIN]

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