Third Time Still A Charm for Toy Story, Jonah Hexed

Pixar's Toy Story 3 followed the lead of its predecessors, posting a series' best opening weekend of $109 million once all was said and done.  Toy Story 3 rode a wave of great reviews, audience anticipation and a broad demographic appeal to a stellar opening that only bodes well for the weeks to come.  Toy Story 2 opened with $57 million in 1998, eventually grossing $245 million.  The original film in the series, the first major 100% computer animated film, opened with $29 million leading to an overall gross of $192 million.  Toy Story 3 had the advantage of higher 3-D ticket prices, and with such a massive opening weekend should have no trouble becoming the top grossing film in the series.

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Karate Kid Waxes Competition

Ralph Macchio was nowhere to be seen, but The Karate Kid is alive and kicking.  

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's offspring, Jaden, toplined Sony's remake of the Karate Kid, with Jackie Chan taking on the role of Mr. Miyagi.  The Karate Kid took in a whopping $56 million over its opening weekend.  

To put that opening in perspective, Jaden's father is one of the highest grossing movie stars of all time (approximately $2.5 billion so far), and has only had two films with larger opening weekends (Hancock and I Am Legend).  Not bad for a 12 year old.

With a budget of only $40 million, The Karate Kid could prove to be one of the most profitable films of the summer.

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Shrek 4 Threepeats at Weak Weekend Box Office

Shrek Forever After, the fourth film in the Shrek series, took the box office crown for a third weekend, bringing in another $25.3 million to bring its domestic box office total to $183 million so far.

The number two spot belonged to Universal's Get Him to the Greek, a spin off of Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  The Jonah Hill/Russell Brand starring film took in $17.4 million in its first weekend.

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Shrek Slows, MacGruber Crashes

It was an unusual weekend at the box office, with Shrek Forever After, the fourth movie in the series, opening significantly lower than the prior two movies in the series.  Shrek 4 had a $70 million opening weekend, compared to a $121 million opening for the third movie in the series, and $108 million for the second movie.  The original Shrek opened to $42 million in 2001.  Shrek 4's weak opening was still good enough for first place, but it'll need some serious legs to even come close to the ultimate grosses of prior movies in the series.

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