'Ted' wins weekend box office, 'Brave' has staying power

It's both a bear and bull market for Hollywood.

The bear is "Ted," Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane's comedy for Universal Pictures about a talking teddy bear, which opened as the No. 1 movie with $54.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

And the bulls are baring it in the Warner Bros. release "Magic Mike," Channing Tatum and Steven Soderbergh's male-stripper tale that debuted a strong No. 2 with $39.2 million.

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The two new movies were backed by a deep bench, with Pixar Animation's Disney fairy tale "Brave" holding up well at No. 3 with $34 million in its second weekend. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection," the latest from the dependable breadwinner for Lionsgate Films, opened solidly at No. 4 with $26.4 million.

The four movies combined to keep Hollywood in the money compared to the same weekend last year, when "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" launched with $97.9 million.

"Ted's" opening was the third-highest R-rated comedy debut, behind last year's "Hangover 2" ($85.9 million) and 2010's "Sex and the City 2" ($57 million), but it was the biggest ever R-rated non-sequel comedy opening.

It was an equally big weekend overseas, where two huge franchises got a head-start on their U.S. openings.

The 20th Century Fox animated sequel "Ice Age: Continental Drift" opened with $78 million in 34 international markets, while Sony's "The Amazing Spider-Man" debuted with $50.2 million in 13 markets. "Amazing Spider-Man" opens domestically Tuesday for the Fourth of July weekend, while "Continental Drift" has its U.S. debut July 13.

Domestic revenues totaled $207.7 million, up 3 percent from the same weekend in 2011, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. That was quite an accomplishment, considering the Fourth of July fell on Monday last year, making it a long holiday weekend.

"It was absolutely astonishing that we're beating the same weekend a year ago given the enormity of the film, the big sci-fi blockbuster that opened then," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "This played out like a holiday weekend without it really being a holiday weekend. It speaks volumes about the importance of having a wide variety of films in the marketplace."

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