User blog:Ceauntay/'Rio' roosts at top of the box office again

Easter weekend delivered a bounty to cartoons as Rio took the top spot for the second straight weekend.

The 3-D comedy took in $26.8 million, according to studio estimates from box-office tracking firm Hollywood.com. The movie has generated $81.3 million in 10 days, nearly recouping its $90 million budget in two weeks. The movie has benefited from a timely release as school-age kids on break for Good Friday gave the cartoon a surge. The haul was enough to hold off a slew of newcomers, including Tyler Perry's latest, Madea's Big Happy Family, which took second with $25.8 million. Though some analysts expected Madea to take the top spot with a higher opening, the debut will mark another profitable project for the Atlanta-based Perry, who keeps his production costs below $20 million, making him one of the industry's most bankable filmmakers. He has never been as popular with film critics, though; two-thirds of them gave the movie a negative review, according to the movie review site RottenTomatoes.com. Robert Pattinson's drama Water for Elephants scored better with critics, 51% of whom gave the movie a thumbs-up. The film was third with $17.5 million, landing it in the middle of its modest projections. The Easter cartoon Hop got a boost from the holiday, which kept it in the top five a fourth straight weekend. Hop earned $12.5 million, which lifted its overall gross to $100.5 million. The animated mystery film ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie'' bowed down 59 percent adding another $9.0 million in its fourth weekend. ''Scooby-Doo! The Movie'' made a total of $264.1 million, which is close to make $300 million.

Wes Craven's Scream 4 was fifth with $7.2 million, followed by the Disney documentary African Cats, which was sixth with $6.4 million, meeting most analysts' expectations. Final figures are due Monday.