User blog:Ceauntay/'Rio' Nips Tyler Perry's Solid $25.8M Opening; Box Office Down 23% From Easter 2010

Lionsgate's latest Tyler Perry comedy, "Madea's Big Happy Family," debuted to a solid $25.8 million this weekend, but it was not enough to win the domestic box office, which was taken for the second weekend in a row by Fox's CG-animated "Rio." The Blue Sky Studios 3D "Rio," which voice stars Jessie Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway, grossed $26.8 million in weekend No. 2, dropping just 32 percent, according to studio estimates. In third place, Fox's dark Robert Pattinson/Reese Witherspoon drama "Water for Elephants" met its middling pre-release forecast, grossing an estimated $17.5 million. One other film opened widely this weekend, with Disney's latest nature documentary, "African Cats" decelerating from Friday's brisk pace and grossing only $6.4 million for the weekend. Overall, the box office was down 23 percent from last Easter. The better news: The box office was actually up over 40 percent from the same weekend on the April calendar last year. All three new release garnered "A" grades from moviegoer survey firm Cinemascore (with Perry's "Madea's Big Happy Family" scoring an A, and "Water for Elephants" and "African Cats" getting "A-minuses"). And holdovers including "Hop" (down only 16 percent), "Soul Surfer" (-24 percent), "Insidious" (-21 percent), "Hanna" (-28 percent) and "Source Code" (-20 percent) all showed strong resilancy. "This was a pretty solid weekend at the box office," noted David Spitz, executive VP and general sales manager for Lionsgate. For its part, Universal's Easter Bunny-themed "Hop" will use Easter Sunday to pass a key milestone, with the film having now grossed more than $100 million domestically. Universal has other good things ahead of it, with the huge-tracking "Fast Five" set for release next weekend. The fifth "Fast and Furious" franchise installment already opened big in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea this weekend, grossing $24 million at 957 locations.

Warner Bros. "Scooby-Doo! The Movie" had a shreaking fell this weeking as it went down a disappointing 59 percent saying goodbye to the top three list, but it ultimatetly made over $260 million.

Here's how the top 10 finished: "Rio" ($26.8m) "Madea's Big Happy Family" ($25.8m) "Water for Elephants" ($17.5m) "Hop" ($12.5m) "Scooby-Doo! The Movie" ($9.0m) "Scream 4" ($7.2m) "African Cats" ($6.4m) "Soul Surfer" ($5.6m) "Insidious" ($5.4m) "Hanna" ($5.3m) "Source Code" ($5.1m) More to come...