娱乐英语新闻:"Monsters University" dominates North America box office with multiple records

LOS ANGELES, June 23 (Xinhua) -- "Monsters University" opened as the No. 1 grossing film in North America this weekend, raking in 82 million dollars worth of tickets and set multiple industry records including the second highest debut for a Pixar film.

The computer animated prequel, hitting 4,004 theaters in the United States and Canada, took in 30.51 million dollars in ticket sales on Friday, followed by 28.83 million dollars and 22.67 million dollars on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The three-day gross, which placed on the high end of pre- release expectations, represents the second-highest June animation movie opening in history, behind Pixar's 2010 hit, "Toy Story 3" ( 2010).

The animated film notched the 14th straight time that a Pixar release debuted as the most-popular film in North America. It's also the eighth-largest opening film for Disney, Pixar's parent company, according to analysts.

The flick earned a coveted "A" rating on CinemaScore, which bodes well for the animated film's future. Sixty percent of the audiences were under 25 years old, and 56 percent were female.

"World War Z," another new release of the weekend, debuted with 66 million dollars in ticket sales, finishing in the second slot.

The apocalyptic action horror film from Paramount had the eighth highest opening weekend ever for the month of June. It's also the largest debut ever for lead actor Brad Pitt.

The film, hitting 3,607 locations, was directed by "The Kite Runner" and "Quantum of Solace" helmsman Marc Forster. It was warmly received by moviegoers, who assigned a "B+" CinemaScore rating to it, a rare phenomenon for a film mixed with thrilling elements. It was on a 200 million dollar budget.

"Man Of Steel", a superhero actioner from Warner Bros., slipped into third slot with 41.2 million dollars in ticket stubs after dominating the box office derby as the top grossing film last week.

The film, starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams and Russell Crowe, is on track to gross 210 million dollars from North America in a fortnight.

Rounding out the 10 most popular films this weekend in North America were "This Is The End" (13 million dollars), "Now You See Me" (7.9 million), "Fast & Furious 6" (4.7 million), "The Internship" (3.4 million), "The Purge" (3.4 million), "Star Trek Into Darkness" (3 million) and "Iron Man 3" (2.2 million).