By David Germain
The Associated Press
Movie beasts from old-time Hollywood got a makeover as heroes and conquered the weekend box office.
DreamWorks Animation's action comedy "Monsters vs. Aliens," which features creatures from 1950s flicks in a showdown with invading extraterrestrials, launched itself into the No. 1 spot with a $58.2million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.
It was the biggest debut so far in 2009, topping the $55.2million first weekend of "Watchmen" in early March.
Opening in second place was Lionsgate's ghost story "The Haunting in Connecticut" with $23 million in ticket sales.
The previous weekend's top movie, Summit Entertainment's apocalyptic thriller "Knowing," slipped to third with $14.7 million, raising its 10-day total to $46.2 million.
The big opening for "Monsters vs. Aliens" boosted Hollywood revenues after a couple of down weekends. Movies overall pulled in about $148 million, up 39 percent from the same weekend a year ago, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
For the year, revenues have reached $2.38 billion, up 12 percent from 2008's, according to Media By Numbers.
Accounting for this year's higher ticket prices, movie attendance is up 10.4 percent.
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