Pixar's Cars roared to a first place finish in the weekend box office derby with an estimated total of $62.8 million and a per theater average of $15,759.  While dominating, Cars' performance was weaker than expected -- the two previous Pixar releases had earned over $70 million in their debut frames and Fox's computer-generated toon, Ice Age: Meltdown opened earlier this year with more than $68 million.  Still Pixar's films have demonstrated considerable 'legs' in the past earning 4-5 times their opening weekend gross over their theatrical run, so Cars should be all right in the long run.

According to Buena Vista, which is distributing Cars, audiences loved the film and gave it an 'A' grade, so word of mouth should help.  As might be expected for a 'G' rated film, 74% of the audience was comprised of families.  While Pixar's films don't contain the snarky smart-aleck dialogue that endears the Shrek films to adult audiences, they have a broad appeal beyond the kiddie set -- as was evidenced by the fact that 40% of the audience was over 25 (most parents evidently enjoy going to a Pixar film with their kids).

X-Men the Last Stand dropped a hefty 54% in its third weekend of release and finished in third place (just ahead of the horror remake of The Omen) earning $15.5 million.  While it's not going to get anywhere near Spider-Man territory the third X-Men film ran its cumulative total to more than $200 million making it the #1 film of 2006 so far and it's a lock to soar past X-2 ($214.9 million) and become the highest earning X-Men film of all time. 

With six films (including Over the Hedge and The Da Vinci Code) pulling in more than $10 million, the total gross for this weekend was some 8.5% ahead of the corresponding time period last year.