The boys-night-out comedy The Hangover won the weekend box office for the second weekend in a row as it suffered just a miniscule 25% decline in its second frame while earning an estimated $33.4 million.  Pixar’s Up was just behind with only a 30.9% drop in its third weekend as it brought in a solid $30.5 million.  Newcomer The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 ($25 million), which drew an older (62% over 30) male audience, opened slightly below expectations, while Eddie Murphy’s PG-rated kiddie comedy, Imagine That, was a real disappointment with an estimated $5.7 million.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): June 12-14, 2009

Overall, the weekend was one of the weakest of the year with the total gross of the top ten films down 25 % from the same frame last year when The Incredible Hulk debuted with $55.4 million.  The weekly barrage of blockbusters that opened in May has obscured the lack of potential high volume fare this summer, though Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (6/26), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (7/17) and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (8/7) are yet to come, they represent the sum total of potential action mega-hits, and next week’s new offerings are The Proposal and Year One, which could lead to another weekend in which Hollywood falls well behind its 2008 numbers.

The Hangover has already earned $105 million, and appears destined to make it well over the $200 million mark and become the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time.  With great word of mouth and college kids now out of school, The Hangover could make it three in a row next weekend, if it can overcome the high concept Jack Black/Michael Cera comedy Year One.  Pixar’s Up has soared to $187.2 million and should easily pass Monsters vs. Aliens ($195 million) this week to become the second highest grossing film of 2009 so far, and comparisons with previous Pixar releases indicate that Up could end up well past the $300 million mark for its domestic run.  The #1 2009 film to date, J.J. Abram’s Star Trek, remained in the top ten in its sixth weekend, adding an estimated $5.6 million and bringing its total to $232 million.

Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine dropped to #12 and earned less than a million, which brings its cumulative to just over $176 million.  It looks like it will finish at just around $180 million, well behind the $234.4 million earned by X-Men: The Last Stand.  So far this summer sequels have not been doing that well in comparison with the previous film in their respective series.  Battle of the Smithsonian, despite better reviews, trails the original Night at the Museum by 23%, Terminator: Salvation is well behind the pace of the lackluster T3, and Angels and Demons remains far behind The Da Vinci Code.