2012 Smashes Box Office

Roland Emmerich’s apocalyptic actioner 2012 destroyed its competition at the North American box office this weekend with a solid $65 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Sony’s 2012 opened at 3,404 locations Friday, scoring an explosive average of $19,095 per theater while easily beating the $35.8 million opening gross of Emmerich’s previous film 10,000 B.C.
Starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, and Danny Glover, 2012 follows a group of individuals trying to survive a series of cataclysms as the world is about to come to an end.

Pirate Radio, this week’s other wide release, made it only to No. 11, with $2.8 million from ticket sales [...]

CLOVERFIELD Crushes Box-Office Competitors

With an estimated US$41 million take, Cloverfield destroyed its competition at the North American box office this weekend.
Paramount’s monster movie directed by Matt Reeves and produced by J. J. Abrams soared past the $35 million record opening of the Star Wars 1997 rerelease. Cloverfield focuses on a small group of friends trying to escape Manhattan while a massive creature rips through the city.

New entry 27 Dresses (above, with James Marsden and Malin Akerman) ranked in second, pulling in $22.4 million from ticket sales at 3,057 locations. The Anne Fletcher-directed romantic comedy stars Katherine Heigl as a passionate bridesmaid who’s asked to arrange her sister’s wedding to the man (Edward Burns) she’s secretly in love with.

Last week’s winner, [...]