娱乐英语新闻:"17 Again" tops weekend box office in North America

LOS ANGLES, April 19 (Xinhua) -- America's teen heartthrob Zac Efron replaced Disney teammate Miley Cyrus at the top spot in Hollywood box office race, as "17 Again" debuted as No. 1 this weekend, a movie industry research firm said on Sunday.

    The film, distributed by Warner Bros. and starring the lead star of Disney's "High School Musical" series, is expected to take in 24.1 million dollars over the three-day period, according to the Los Angeles-base firm Media By Numbers.

    "17 Again" tells a fantasy story that a 37-year-old man woke up one day 17 again and got a chance to rewrite his life. It was an original New Line Cinema title, but released by Warner Bros. after the studio took over New Line's marketing and distribution.

    Universal's journalism thriller "State of Play," starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck, opened in second place with an estimated 14.1 million dollars this weekend.

    DreamWorks Animation's "Monsters vs Aliens," in its fourth week in release, took in 12.9 million dollars in third place, while last week's box office leader, Miley Cyrus' "Hannah Montana The Movie," fell to fourth with 12.7 million dollars over the weekend.

    Rounding out the top 5 films this weekend is Universal's thriller "Fast and Furious," which took in 12.3 million dollars and grossed 136.7 million dollars over three weeks.