Monsters vs. Aliens conquered the box office with a $58.2 million on 7,600 screens in 4,104 theaters. It became the third highest-grossing movie for the month of March behind 300 and Ice Age: The Meltdown. The new animated movie also had the largest 3D opening ever (more than 2,000 screens) at 1,550 sites, which accounted for $32.6 million of the $58.2 in sales. This landed it third place for the top grossing 3D movie of all time behind The Dark Knight and Watchmen. This new family film not only had 3D effects, but an all star cast to voice the characters including Reese Witherspoon, Rainn Wilson, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Colbert and Will Arnet.

The Haunting in Connecticut grossed $23 million on 3,500 screens at 2,732 theaters. Its success could be due to its tagline, “based on true events,” and its disturbing images. A sizable portion of the audience were young – 44 percent was between the ages of 17 and 24 years old – yet females made up 62 percent of the crowd, according to Lionsgate exit polls.

Last weekend’s number one, Knowing, suffered a 40 percent decrease from the previous weekend to earn $14.7 million. Its total stands at $46.2 million in 10 days.

Paul Rudd and Jason Segel’s I Love You, Man felt a bit of a cold shoulder as it dropped 29.3 percent from the previous weekend to earn $12.6 million. It has a total of $37 million in 10 days. And it’s faring better than similar buddy-comedies in their second week; for example Forgetting Sarah Marshall grossed only $11 million and Role Models earned $11.2 million in their second weeks.

Duplicity slid 46 percent to gross $7.8 million. Universal’s adult spy-drama has grossed $25.6 million in two weeks. Since other new releases are topping the charts, it is likely this spy flick has been conned.

Race to Witch Mountain took a direct hit of 56.9 percent since the previous weekend, likely due to the competing kids movie Monsters vs. Aliens opening last weekend as well. Monsters dominated the demographic, leaving Race to With Mountain with only $5.6 million. It has earned $53.3 million in 17 days.

John Cena’s 12 Rounds ranked seventh grossing $5.3 million. It opened on 2,400 screens at 2,331 sites. Cena’s last film, The Marine (2006), grossed $7.1 million in its opening weekend. In this film, Cena plays a detective whose wife gets kidnapped by a convict who wants revenge on him. 

Watchmen continued to plummet, earning $2.8 million after four weeks in theaters. It suffered a 60 percent decrease from the previous weekend, and the $150-million dark comic book story has grossed a total of $103.3 million thus far. It did lose a substantial amount of theaters last weekend, 3,510 to 2,010, which undoubetly affected its box office take.

Sunshine Cleaning starring Amy Adams grossed $1.3 million, expanding to 167 theaters last weekend from the previous weekend of 64. Its total stands at $2.5 million after three weeks and is scheduled to expand to 500 theaters this weekend.

The French independent film Shall We Kiss? directed by Emmanuel Mouret debuted in four theaters and earned $31,000. The film centers on the consequences of a supposed innocent kiss between friends.

—Jessica Delli Santi