User blog:Ceauntay/Box office report: 'Rio' flies with $40 mil, 'Scream 4' settles for $19.3 mil,'Scooby-Doo! The Movie' stumbles to $16.3 mil

Now we know one of Ghostface’s weaknesses: ornithophobia, or fear of birds. Fox’s tropical-bird cartoon Rio trounced the horror sequel Scream 4 and soared to a $40 million opening, according to studio estimates. That gives Rio the second best opening weekend so far this year behind ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie''‘s $114 million debut. It also represents another victory for Blue Sky Studios, which has produced such animated hits as Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who and the Ice Age movies. Rio, a Brazil-set adventure about the world’s last two blue macaws (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway), earned 58 percent of its tally from 3-D theaters. The well-reviewed $90 million movie also received an “A” rating from CinemaScore audiences, which bodes well for its staying power over the next few weeks. Warner Bros. animated film ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie'' headed down to second to $25.3 million. After two weeks of topping the box offices, the film fell 50 percent for a total of $250 million comparing to its weak $30 million budget. Scream 4, the first movie in the horror series in 11 years, had to settle for second place with a disappointing $19.3 million. For any other $40 million horror film, that result would be viewed as a decent start, but most industry experts were expecting much more from the Wes Craven project. The Dimension Films release fell far short of the debuts of Scream 2 ($32.9 million) and Scream 3 ($34.7 million), and well behind projections heading into the weekend. The film will almost certainly finish its run as the lowest-grossing entry in the franchise. Scream 4 apparently had trouble attracting new young fans, as only 54 percent of its audience was under the age of 25 — a low figure for a horror film. And the film’s R rating meant that younger teenagers had to get their scares from the PG-13 Insidious instead. CinemaScore moviegoers gave Scream 4 a mediocre “B-” grade. The rest of the top five consisted of holdovers. The Easter Bunny comedy Hop dropped to third place with $11.2 million — a 48 percent decline. In fourth was the surfing biopic Soul Surfer, which slipped only 30 percent for $7.4 million. And the teenage-assassin thriller Hanna dropped 41 percent for $7.3 million. In semi-wide release, Robert Redford’s new historical drama The Conspirator, about the trial of Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, collected a sturdy $3.9 million from 707 locations. And the Ayn Rand adaptation Atlas Shrugged: Part I debuted to a decent $1.7 million from 300 theaters. John Aglialoro, the Cybex fitness equipment CEO who financed the $10 million movie, spent nearly 20 years bringing Rand’s Objectivist novel to the big screen. Check back next week as the best-selling-novel adaptation Water for Elephants, the comedy Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, and the nature documentary African Cats attempt to wipe that smirk off of Rio‘s feathery face.
 * 1) Rio — $40 mil
 * 2) Scooby-Doo! The Movie — $25.3 mil
 * 3) Scream 4 — $19.3 mil
 * 4) Hop — $11.2 mil
 * 5) Soul Surfer — $7.4 mil