娱乐英语新闻:"Monsters University" maintains No. 1 spot in North America

LOS ANGELES, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Disney/Pixar's animated sequel "Monsters University" demonstrated a strong cinematic appeal on its sophomore weekend, extending its No. 1 finish into another week.

The G-rated computer-generated 3-D flick succeeded in maintaining the top placing it nabbed last weekend, which is estimated to rake in 46.18 million dollars worth of tickets from theaters in North America, representing a 44 percent slip. The family-orientated "Monsters Inc." prequel is on track to gross 172 million dollars in revenues in two weeks.

"The Heat," a 20th Century Fox raunchy comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock, finished in second slot with a 40 million weekend.

The R-rated comedy, debuting in 3,181 theaters in the United States and Canada, raked in 13.6 million dollars worth of tickets Friday. That tops the debuting days of McCarthy 's last two films including "Bridesmaids" and "Identity Thief" by a big margin.

The three-day receipt for the 43 million dollar film is 5 million dollars more than what analysts had projected. "World War Z," a Paramount zombie thriller which debuted last week, finished in No. 3 with 29.8 million dollars in ticket receipt. The surprise hit starring Brad Pitt is paced to gross 123 million dollars over two weeks.

"White House Down," a Sony/Columbia PG-13 actioner starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, debuted in No. 4 with a 25.7 million dollar business from 3,222 locations in North America.

The three-day receipt marks director Roland Emmerich's lowest opening since 2000's "The Patriot." At a budge of 150 million dollars, Sony will have a rough future making the ends meet. This is Emmerich's third non-sci-fi film.

Both wide openers over the weekend received "A-" CinemaScore ratings from audiences.

Rounding out the 10 most popular films in North America this weekend were "Man of Steel" (USD20.82 million),"This Is The End" ( 8.7 million), "Now You See Me" (5.5 million),"Fast & Furious 6" (2. 4 million),"Star Trek Into Darkness" (2 million), and "The Internship" (1.4 million).