Dreamworks’ 3-D animated feature Megamind repeated as box office champion with an estimated $30.1 million as it derailed the runaway train epic Unstoppable, which managed to earn a respectable $23.5 million in its debut.  But two other new films, the cheaply-made science fiction thriller Skyline and the perky comedy Morning Glory opened weakly and the overall box office was down 11% from the same frame a year ago when 2012 debuted to $65.5 million and 18% from 2008 when Quantum of Solace topped the chart with $67.8 million.

The superhero-themed Megamind dropped just 35% in its second weekend.  With a domestic gross of $89.8 million in ten days, Megamind is performing very much like Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon, but not nearly as well as The Incredibles, which fell just 29% on the same weekend in 2004.  Revenue from 3-D showings accounts for 64% of Megamind’s total, which means that in terms of admissions, it is really a long way behind Pixar’s superhero classic The Incredibles—and Megamind will probably take a significant hit next weekend when the new Harry Potter film opens.

Unstoppable’s opening weekend was nearly identical with last year’s Taking of Pelham 123, which, like Unstoppable, also starred Denzel Washington and was directed by Tony Scott.  With solid reviews (85% positive on Rotten Tomatoes) and a strong “A-“ CinemaScore rating from audiences, Unstoppable looks like it has a chance to demonstrate some real “legs” over the coming weeks.  Unstoppable appealed equally to men and women, but skewed older—65% of the opening weekend crowd was over 25.

Third place went to Due Date, the Todd (The Hangover) Phillips-helmed “R-rated” comedy, which tumbled 53% in its sophomore session.  Such a drop would be great for an action film, but it’s a troubling sign for a comedy.  Still the $65 million Due Date should still turn a profit, though it won’t be the runaway hit that The Hangover was.

The low-budget alien invasion film Skyline took 4th place with an estimated $11.7 million.  But don’t expect Skyline to hang around the top ten for long—audiences gave the film a nasty “D-“ CinemaScore.  Attendance went down from Friday to Saturday night, another indication that cell phone and twitter-aided word-of-mouth were working against the low budget Skyline, which cost just $10 million to produce.  Universal declined to screen Skyline for critics, evidently with good reason since only 10% of the reviews have been positive so far.

The perky newsroom comedy Morning Glory also debuted with a thud, earning just $9.6 million, while attracting an older (89% over 25) female (79%) audience. 

The comic book-based Red continues to impress as it dropped just 40.9% in its fifth weekend at the box office.  The $58 million production has now earned nearly $80 million and still has a chance to break the century mark. 

Another comic book movie, Stephen Frears’ adaptation of Posy Simmonds’ Tamara Drewe has had only a limited art house release--and it just got more limited as it dropped six theaters from its previous high total of 27, which means that many of the folks who are interested in seeing this film will have to do so on DVD.