With the top two films raking in far more than even the most optimistic forecasters had envisaged, the box office resumed its summer march forward, erasing a little more of the shortfall from 2010. After two weeks of coming in behind year-ago revenue, last weekend's total take of $176.2 million came in at 6.8 percent above the $165 million generated during the same weekend last year. It would not have been able to do so if Cars 2 and Bad Teacher had merely lived up to expectations. Disney/Pixar's Cars 2 had been expected to take in $55-60 million; instead, it earned $66.14 million. Sony/Columbia's Bad Teacher had been expected to earn $20-25 million; instead, it earned $31.60 million. The two films also offset a bigger-than-anticipated downturn for last weekend's top film, Green Lantern , which dropped 66 percent in its third week to take in $18.03 million.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Box Office Mojo (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date) 1. Cars 2 , Disney/Pixar, $66,135,507, (New); 2. Bad Teacher , Sony, $31,603,106, (New); 3. Green Lantern, Warner Bros., $18,028,056, 2 Wks. ($88,989,477); 4. Super 8 , Paramount, $12,028,092, 3 Wks. ($95,114,324); 5. Mr. Popper's Penguins , 20th Century Fox, $10,145,662, 2 Wks. ($39,293,341); 6. X-Men First Class , 20th Century Fox, $6,680,480, 4 Wks. ($132,895,408); 7. The Hangover 2 , Warner Bros., $5,574,179, 5 Wks. ($243,651,860); 8. Bridesmaids, Universal, $5,260,290, 7 Wks. ($146,547,315); 9. Pirates Of The Caribbean On Stranger Tides, Disney, $4,928,925, 6 Wks. ($229,287,226); 10. Kung Fu Panda 2, Paramount, $4,173,144, 5 Wks. ($153,065,641).

28/06/2011