Early August Derby

Animation continues to sprout from the Top Ten.

1. Dark Knight Rises (Legendary/Warner Bros) Week 3 [4,242 Runs] PG13 Friday $10.2M, Saturday $14.4M, Weekend $36.4M, Cume $354.6M

2. Total Recall (Sony) NEW [3,601 Runs] PG13 Friday $9.1M, Saturday $9.4M, Weekend $26.0M

3. Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 3 (Fox) NEW [3,391 Runs] PG Friday $5.8M, Saturday $5.1M, Weekend $14.7M

4. Ice Age 4 3D (Fox) Week 4 [3,542 Runs] PG Friday $2.4M, Saturday $3.3M, Weekend $8.4M, Cume $131.5M

5. The Watch (Fox) Week 2 [3,168 Runs] R Friday $1.9M, Saturday $2.5M, Weekend $6.3M (-50%), Cume $25.3M

6. Ted (Universal) Week 6 [2,767 Runs] R Friday $1.6M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $5.4M, Cume $203.4M

7. Step Up Revolution 3D (Summit/Lgate) Week 2 [2,606 Runs] PG13 Friday $1.7M, Saturday $2.0M, Weekend $5.3M, Cume $23.1M

8. The Amazing Spider-Man 3D (Col/Sony) Week 5 [2,425 Runs] PG13 Friday $1.2M, Saturday $1.9M, Weekend $4.3M, Cume $250.8M

9. Brave 3D (Pixar-Disney) Week 7 [2,110 Runs] PG Friday $811K, Saturday $1.1M, Weekend $2.8M, Cume $223.2M

10. Magic Mike (Warner Bros) Week 6 [1,202 Runs] R Friday $470K, Saturday $740K, Weekend $1.3M, Cume $111.2M

Animation in visual effects spectaculars ((Total Recall, The Amazing Spider Man, The Dark Knight) and animated features (you know the ones) makes the art and craft pretty dominant in today's movies. I doubt that will be changing anytime soon.

Meantime, Madagascar 3 has climbed past $210 million, twelve million behind Brave.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Ted is now one of the most successful R-rated comedies of all time.

... Ted has now earned $203.4 million in North America and will soon eclipse Wedding Crashers ($209.3 million) to become the No. 4 R-rated comedy of all time ...