‘Ice Age: Continental Drift’ tops box office with $46 million opening

7/15/2012
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK  — With Batman lurking, the prehistoric critters of “Ice Age: Continental Drift” ran off with the box office, with the movie earning $46 million in its opening weekend.

The 20th Century Fox animated film is the fourth in the decade-long “Ice Age” series and the first in 3-D. The studio’s box office estimate Sunday for the North America performance of “Continental Drift” was on par with previous “Ice Age” movies but well below the opening weekend of the second installment, “The Meltdown,” with opened with $68 million.

In its second week of release, “The Amazing Spider-Man,” Sony’s reboot of the web-slinging superhero, earned $35 million, pushing it just past a total of $200 million domestically.

The much-anticipated Batman sequel “The Dark Knight Rises” opens Friday.