Below are the top 12 weekend estimates from the North American box office:

1. Fast And Furious - $72,508,000
2. Monsters Vs. Aliens - $33,510,000
3. The Haunting In Connecticut - $9,550,000
4. Knowing - $8,130,000
5. I Love You, Man - $7,850,000
6. Adventureland - $6,010,000
7. Duplicity - $4,300,000
8. Race To Witch Mountain - $3,351,000
9. 12 Rounds - $2,300,000
10. Sunshine Cleaning - $1,879,000
11. Taken - $1,580,000
12. The Last House On The Left - $1,312,000

Overall, the Box Office was up 9.5% on last weekend's total gross.

Opening fast out of the gate with an absolute monster total is unbelievably FAST AND FURIOUS, which took in an estimated $72.5M over the weekend. This is the biggest opening for the franchise thus far, and has defied expectations, both being the fourth sequel and that the previous sequel did not open as well (in fact, after three days, FAST AND FURIOUS has earned more than the entire domestic run of the previous sequel TOKYO DRIFT). Vin Diesel's star power and a promise of return to the formula of the original film must have won over movie-goers as after three days, the film has already recouped most of its $85M budget.

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS did relatively well in the face of the new competition, earning an estimated strong $33.5M for the weekend. The film was down 43.5% from last weekend which is somewhat large given the box office history of CG-animated films which tend to hold stronger than this. Overall, this film has grossed $105.5M since opening and may have to work a little bit to recoup its $175M budget back domestically.

THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT also held up well, perhaps even better given its yet another in a long line of disposal horror films for 2009. Earning an estimated $9.5M, the film was only down 58.5% from last weekend and has earned a better than expected $37M since opening.

The Nicolas Cage thriller KNOWING is still holding on in fourth spot with an estimated $8.1M for the weekend. The film has done relatively well against negative perception and competition, earning $58.2M since opening.

The only other new opener for the weekend is ADVENTURELAND which earned an estimated ho-hum $6M from the weekend. The Miramax R-rated comedy is unlikely to stay in the top 12 for very long and may drop out altogether next weekend.

After months in the top 10, the Liam Neeson action flick TAKEN has finally dropped in to eleventh spot, earning an estimated $1.5M from the weekend. The film has become the sleeper hit for 2009, earning $139M at the domestic box office after ten weeks, and an additional $75M in international box office, making it a huge winner for distributor 20th Century Fox.

The US Box Office took in an estimated total of $152.2 million for the whole of the weekend 3-5 April 2009.