'Karate Kid' kicks 'Shrek' from No. 1 box office perch

A remake of "The Karate Kid" starring Will Smith's son, Jaden, and Jackie Chan knocked "Shrek Forever After" from the No. 1 spot at the box office after a three-week run.

From Bandon Gray's analysis at BoxOfficeMojo.com:

What a difference an appealing movie can make. After weeks of soft box office, overall business perked up ten percent over the same weekend last year, thanks to "The Karate Kid." The remake of the 1980s smash debuted far beyond genre norms, and it more than doubled the opening of fellow '80s rehash, "The A-Team," which was relatively sub-par.

"The Karate Kid" rallied an estimated $56 million on approximately 5,300 screens at 3,663 locations. That ranked as the second-highest grossing launch ever for a martial-arts-themed picture behind only "Karate Kid" star Jackie Chan's "Rush Hour 2." According to distributor Sony Pictures' research, 53 percent of the audience was female, and 56 percent was under 25 years old. Parents and their children accounted for 45 percent of moviegoers, meaning that the picture appealed as more than just a family movie.

Here's this weekend's Top 5 films based on studio estimates:

1 The Karate Kid $56,000,000 weekend - $56,000,000 overall
2 The A-Team $26,000,000 weekend - $26,000,000 overall
3 Shrek Forever After $15,800,000 weekend - $210,052,000 overall
4 Get Him to the Greek $10,100,000 weekend - $36,500,000 overall
5 Killers $8,170,000 weekend - $30,670,000 overall