娱乐英语新闻:"Resident Evil: Afterlife" No.1 at box office thanks to 3D

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- This week's only national debut, "Resident Evil: Afterlife," has turned out to be the movie at the top, fetching 27.7 million dollars in movie ticket receipts, with IMAX theater showings making up a sizable percentage of the total gate, the North America box office authority said on Sunday.

As the fourth installment in a series of film adaptations based loosely on Capcom's survival horror video game series "Resident Evil," the latest sci-fi action-thriller made its debut in 3D and IMAX 3-D theaters on Sept. 10 from 4,700 screens at 3,202 locations in U.S. and Canada.

Of the movie theater that screened the latest installment, 2, 062 have shown the pictures in the regular 3D illusion and 141 in IMAX 3D. The thriller is the fifth number-one opener this summer from Sony. Much of the script for the movie was deliberately penned with 3D technology in mind, producer, director and writer Paul W.S. Anderson recently said.

A still from movie "Resident Evil: Afterlife"

"I wrote things into this script that I knew would work well in 3D, like lots of sets with depth-like tunnels, elevator shafts, and big wide landscapes," Anderson explained.

Sony also has the number two movie this weekend: "Takers." It is on track to sell 6.1 million dollars in admission tickets this weekend, for a three-week running gate of 48.1 million dollars. " The American" from Focus features is number three, with 5.9 million dollars in estimated sales this weekend, and a two-week total of 28.3 million dollars.

Rounding out the 10 most-popular films this weekend are:

-- No.4: "Machete," Fox, 4.2 million dollars this weekend, 20.8 million dollars over two weeks;

-- No.5: "Going The Distance," Warner Bros., 3.8 million dollars this weekend, 14 million dollars over two weeks;

-- No.6: "The Other Guys," Sony/Columbia, 3.6 million dollars this weekend, 112.7 million dollars over six weeks;

-- No.7: "The Last Exorcism," 3.5 million dollars this weekend, 38.2 million dollars over four weeks;

-- No.8: "The Expendables," Lionsgate, 3.3 million dollars this weekend, 89.5 million dollars over five weeks;

-- No.9: "Inception," Warner Bros., 3 million dollars this weekend, 282.4 million dollars over nine weeks;

-- No.10: "Eat Pray Love," Sony, 2.9 million dollars this weekend, 74.6 million dollars over five weeks.