Box Office Tent Poles

With the Add On.

It's the Weekend of Movie Tent Poles as summmertime flick watching gets underway with a vengeance.

For Friday, five of the top six box office entrants are sequels to mega blockbusters from years gone by.

Up at #1, Night at the Museum Deux rakes in $15.3 million, while Terminator Salvation collects $14.8 million. (This edition stars Christiam Bale; Arnold Schwarzenegger currently toplines the stinkeroo entitled Califonia's Budget Crisis.) ...

The Sony Tentpole Angels and Demons stand in the hird position with a $66.1 million accumulation, while Star Trek (#4) has gathered in $167.1 million to date. And X-Men: Wolverine has made off with $157.3 million.

In the animated department, Monsters Vs. Aliens hangs tough at the ninth position with $191.9 million in the till.

Add On: One more day in the extended weekend, but to date, Museum ($53.5 million) is out in front of the pack by a couple of lengths, with Terminator ($43 breathing hard trying to make it a race.

In the meantime, Star Trek lopes along in third with $183.6 million in its saddlebags, while fourth place Angels and Demons has generated $81.5 million at the box office.

Monsters Vs. Aliens, dropping 57.7% to ninth, has $193 million after nine weeks of release. No doubt it will drop out of the Top Ten the end of next week, when Up floats into town.