娱乐英语新闻:"Wimpy Kid" rules North America box office

LOS ANGELES, March 27 (Xinhua) -- A sequel to the 2010 Fox studios middle-school comedy "Diary of a Wimpy Kids" opened at the top of the North America box office this weekend, triumphing in a fierce face-off with another new release, Warner Bros. fantasy actioner "Sucker Punch," it was reported on Sunday.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules," which is based on Jeff Kinney's 2008 popular children activity book of the same name, premiered at 3,167 theaters in Canada and the United States, and is projected to garner 24.4 million dollars in weekend sales, distributor Fox studios said.

The film, which costs 21 million dollars to make, aims at teenagers and family audiences. It chronicles Greg Heffley's attempts to navigate the hazards of middle school, impress the girls, steer clear of the school talent show, and most important, keep his secret safe. Zachary Gordon, who played Heffley in the first film, and nearly ten other actors and actresses have reprised their original roles in the film.

"Rodrick really does rule with a terrific weekend for the second installment of the franchise," movie industry and Hollywood. com analyst Paul Degerabedian said.

"Sucker Punch," a 75 million dollars fantasy actioner about five young women who use their vivid imagination as a means to escape an insane asylum, was in second place with 19 million dollars in movie ticket receipts.

The PG-13 film, which was directed by Zack Snyder and features an ensemble female cast, opened on approximately 3,900 screens at 3,033 locations. It has received generally poor reviews from the critics. Only 20 percent of 106 critics have given the film positive reviews, Rotten Tomatoes reports.

In third place is "Limitless," the Bradley Cooper "smart pill" thriller, which is on track to gross 15.2 million dollars in sales in its second week in the theaters. The Relativity Media release, due to great word-of-mouth, is expected to reap 41.3 million dollars over 10 days.

"The Lincoln Lawyer," a Lionsgate crime drama starring Matthew McConaughey, snagged fourth place with 11 million dollars. "Rango, " a Johnny Depp animated Western, was fifth with 9.8 million dollars take. Its cumulative receipts over four weeks total 106.4 million dollars, representing the first 2011 movie to pass the 100 million mark.