英语文摘:"Rio (3-D Animated)" debuts with strong box office showing in North America

LOS ANGLES, April 17 (Xinhua) -- "Rio (3-D Animated)" won a fierce box office derby against its arch rival, "Scream 4," as Blue Sky Studios' sixth feature film is expected to amass 40 million dollars in North America ticket receipts over the weekend, it was reported on Sunday.

The animated comedy adventure, which is distributed by 20th Century Fox, is in No. 1 place on the box office chart, as it debuted on some 6,400 screens at 3,826 locations. Of the total revenue, 3D presentations at 2,591 locations accounted for 58 percent. The strong showing helped the film easily eclipse the No. 2, "Scream 4," a horror sequel of the "Scream" franchise which grossed a distant 19.3 million dollars for the Weinstein Co..

"Rio," which features voices by Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway and George Lopez, tells how Blu, a rare macaw and female Jewel, embark on an adventure of a lifetime, learning about friendship, love, courage and experiencing many wonders in the life. The film is well received from film critics, and exit polling indicated that 53 percent of its audience was female and 50 percent was under 25 years old, according to Fox estimates.

"Scream 4," a follow-up to the "Scream 3" which was released 11 years ago, took in 19.5 million in ticket stubs, well below the previous prediction of 25-30 million dollars. Debuting on 4,400 screens at 3,305 locations, the slasher film was intended to impress adult fans of previous "Scream" films. With a budget of 40 million dollars, the film faces an uphill road in order to make the ends meet.

"Hop," another cartoon of the weekend, which features Easter Bunny, held on to the third place in its third week of showings, with 11.2 million dollars in Palm Sunday weekend showings for Universal, although its revenue dropped 48 percent from the previous weekend. The Universal Studios comedy is on track to garner 82.6 million dollars in Canada and the United States, studio estimates show.

"Soul Surfer" from Sony/Tristar is in fourth place with 7.4 million dollars, and "Hanna" from Focus in fifth with 7.3 million dollars.

Rounding out the top 10 films this weekend are: "Arthur" (6.9 million dollars), "Insidious" (6.9 million dollars), "Source Code" (6.3 million dollars), "The Conspirator" (debuting with 3.9 million dollars), and "Your Highness" (3.9 million dollars).