Disney Pixar unleashed their tenth #1 debut with Up which grossed $68.2M to become the company’s third biggest opening behind The Incredibles (2004, $70.4M) and Finding Nemo (2003, $70.3M). Most industry expectations for Up were slightly below last summer’s Pixar treat, WALL-E ($63.1M), as were mine, with an opening prediction of $62M. The grumpy old man in the floating house was able to float so high due to amazing reviews and higher ticket prices for 3-D showings, a first for a Pixar film. Up is currently the 4^th highest opening of the year behind X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($85.1M), Star Trek ($75.2M) and Fast & Furious ($71M), but that will all change with the imminent arrival of the latest Transformers and Harry Potter movies later this summer. With little competition over the next few frames, Up should continue to float along nicely, eventually landing at about $220M overall.

Drag Me to Hell, the horror film that returns director Sam Raimi to his staple genre, managed a third place debut, scaring up $16.6M. A decent start for a horror film, but lower than most industry expectations and my $20M forecast. Hell has been universally praised by critics and its opening is a bit of a disappointment due to Raimi’s loyal fan following. The horror genre has also done really well at the box office earlier in the year and that was expected to spill over to Hell, the first fright flick to open in 2 months. Of course, horror films from earlier in the year didn’t have to compete with terminator robots, a refurbished U.S.S. Enterprise and the sharp claws of the still viable Wolverine. Drag Me to Hell should be able to terrify audiences out of about $50M by the end of its run.

Among holdovers, Night at The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian fell to 2^nd place after topping the charts over Memorial Day Weekend. The family comedy slipped 53% which is quite good for a blockbuster movie in its second weekend, especially when faced with a competitor (Up) that is after the same audience.  Smithsonian added another $25.5M to its total, very close to my $26.7M forecast. After a disappointing first weekend, Terminator Salvation plummeted 62%, landing in fourth place with $16.1M, exactly as I predicted. To see how the rest of my predictions fared, check out the chart below.