‘Hellboy’ sizzles, knocks other hero off top spot

Another superhero movie has struck box-office gold this summer.

“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” opened No. 1 at the weekend box office, pulling in $35.9 million and knocking Will Smith’s “Hancock” from the top spot, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Featuring a red-skinned hero, Universal Pictures’ “Hellboy” joins fellow superhero flicks “Hancock,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “Iron Man” as among the most successful films of the summer.

“Right now, superhero movies are doing very well. But I think what brought this to light is that this is not just a superhero, it’s fantasy,” said Nikki Rocco, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “There’s a hit in this franchise and hopefully there will be more.”

Although slipping to the No. 2 spot, “Hancock” remained a strong contender, pulling in an estimated $33 million in its second weekend in theaters. The Sony Pictures film, starring Smith as an alcoholic, hot-tempered superhero, has amassed $165 million domestically and $345.2 million worldwide.

The Warner Bros. adventure “Journey to the Center of the Earth” surpassed expectations with $20.6 million on its opening weekend, coming in third.

“Journey” was the widest release yet in digital 3-D despite Hollywood’s struggle to roll out the format quickly.

The movie, starring Brendan Fraser and adapted from the classic Jules Verne novel, was originally called “Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D” but was retitled when it became clear that the achingly slow 3-D rollout meant it would have to be shown in 2-D as well to saturate the market.

Although 3-D theaters accounted for about one-third of the theaters where the movie was played, about 60% of the film’s total gross came from 3-D screenings, said Michael V. Lewis, chief executive of RealD, one of the companies that upgrades theaters to 3-D.

“At the end of the day, people vote with their wallets,” Lewis said. “The arrow is moving in the right direction.”

Billed as the first fictional, live-action feature shot entirely in digital 3-D, “Journey” was considered a box-office test. Recent 3-D features have all been animated or concert movies, but directors including James Cameron are working on a variety of live-action projects in the format.

After a 3-D “Journey” screening Saturday night at the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles, moviegoers said they enjoyed the film and thought the format enhanced the experience.

“It added intensity to the movie,” said Jill Lasky, 36, a pediatric dentist from Los Angeles. “It made me jump out of my seat.”

Tracy Shabsis, 34, said she hoped to see more 3-D movies released in the future. “The technology’s there -- we should be using it,” said Shabsis, a public relations executive from Los Angeles.

“Meet Dave,” Eddie Murphy’s sci-fi comedy, was a box-office bust, opening to just $5.3 million. The film finished seventh overall.

“We’re obviously disappointed,” said Bert Livingston, 20th Century Fox’s senior vice president of distribution. “Eddie was terrific in the film and people like it, but not enough people came.”

Among films that were already released, Disney-Pixar’s “Wall-E” dropped 43%, bringing in $18.5 million and finishing fourth. Universal Pictures’ “Wanted,” starring Angelina Jolie as a member of an assassins guild, slipped 42% to $11.6 million, dropping the movie to the No. 5 spot.

Overall, the box office fell compared with the same weekend a year ago. The top 12 films grossed $144.8 million, down 15.8% from the same weekend in 2007.

Another superhero joins the lineup Friday with the highly anticipated release of “The Dark Knight,” the latest movie in the Batman series. The film stars Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger, who died in January after an accidental drug overdose, as the Joker.

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andrea.chang@latimes.com

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Box office

Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:

*--* Rank Movie 3-day gross Total Weeks -- (studio) (millions) (millions) 1 Hellboy II: The Golden Army $35.9 $35.9 1 -- (Universal) 2 Hancock 33 165 2 -- (Sony) 3 Journey to the Center 20.6 20.6 1 -- of the Earth -- (Warner Bros.) 4 Wall-E 18.5 162.8 3 -- (Disney) 5 Wanted 11.6 112 3 -- (Universal) 6 Get Smart 7.1 111.5 4 -- (Warner Bros.) 7 Meet Dave 5.3 5.3 1 -- (20th Century Fox) 8 Kung Fu Panda 4.3 202 6 -- (Paramount) 9 Kit Kittredge: An 2.4 11 4 -- American Girl -- (Picturehouse) 10 Indiana Jones and the 2.3 310.5 8 -- Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- (Paramount) *--*

Industry totals

*--* 3-day gross Change Year-to-date gross Change (in millions) from 2007 (in billions) from 2007 $153 -15.5% $5.042 -2.4% *--*

Source: Media by Numbers