THE LEGO MOVIE CLICKS AGAIN

The Lego Movie has legs — strong ones. For the third weekend in a row, it has held the top spot at the box office, standing well above its rivals. It earned an estimated $31.45 million this weekend, dropping a modest 37 percent from last weekend, while two newcomers, 3 Days to Kill and Pompeii managed to earn just $12.20 million and $10.01 million respectively. For 3 Days, the result turned out to be what the studio had expected. It reportedly cost less than $30 million to produce. But for Sony’s TriStar, the outcome for Pompeii was like being trapped by flowing lava. The film reportedly cost more than $80 million. Three other Sony films followed on the box office chart. Placing fourth, Robocop, another costly production that is keeping Sony executives praying for a rescue from the overseas box office, earned about $9.40 million in its third week, down 57 percent from the previous week. Its worldwide gross has reached $143.60 million; it cost $100 million to make. (Keep in mind that theater owners pocket half that amount.) The Monuments Men, in fifth place, took in $8.10 million to bring its four-week gross to $58.05 million; its production budget was about $70 million. And About Last Night, which debuted strongly last weekend, plummeted 71 percent in its second week to wind up with $7.40 million.