娱乐英语新闻:"Battle: Los Angeles," 4th top grosser in a row for Sony as it debuted in North America

LOS ANGELES, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Sony/Columbia has won the North America box office derby through an impressive feat, as its new release "Battle: Los Angeles" became the top grosser at the box office with projected 36 million dollars in ticket receipts for three days over the weekend, representing the fourth consecutive number one film debut this year for the studio.

As the latest iteration of the "L.A. meets Armageddon" theme, the sci-fi actioner, starring Aaron Eckhart, Ramon Rodriguez and Michelle Rodriguez, is Sony's fourth top opener following "The Green Hornet," "Just Go With It" and "The Roommate." Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, the film was released two weeks after the anniversary of an actual 1942 UFO sighting in Los Angeles that prompted a full military response including an all-out assault along the coast with artillery. It was on the most part well received by young men under age 18, and received an overall "B" on CinemaScore.

Last week's No. 1, the Paramount's first cartoon feature, " Rango," was still a strong contender, taking in 23 million dollars in sales with a fortnight running total of 68.7 million dollars.

Ranking in No. 3 is "Little Red Riding Hood," a Leonardo DiCaprio production based on the popular folk tale of the same name collected by both Charles Perrault the Brothers Grimm. The dark fantasy film is projected to sell 14.1 million dollars in movie ticket receipts for Warner Bros. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, mainly for its uninspired leading men and a painfully cliched script.

"The Adjustment Bureau," Universal's holdover, is No. 4 with a projected 11.5 million dollars weekend and has a two-week total of 38.5 million dollars.

"Mars Needs Moms!" from Disney debuted this weekend as a box office bomb, taking in 6.8 million dollars in estimated sales. With a 150 million dollars budget, the 3-D computer animated sci- fi feature is widely expected to be one of the biggest money losers of all time. It is based on a book by author and illustrator Berkeley Breathed, a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Rounding out the top 10 most popular films in the North America box office were:

-- No.6: "Hall Pass", 5.1 million;

-- No.7: "Beastly," 5 million dollars;

-- No.8: "Just Go With It," 4 million dollars;

-- No.9: "The King's Speech," 3.6 million dollars, and

-- No.10: "Gnomeo and Juliet," 3.5 million dollars.