T3 TERMINATES COMPETITION

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines killed the competition, grossing $44 million in its first weekend and $72.5 million since opening Wednesday.

Reese Witherspoon’s Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde debuted in second place with a $22.9 million weekend and $39.2 million since its Wednesday premiere. The weekend’s other new wide release, the animated Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, bombed despite a voice cast that includes Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer. Sinbad opened in sixth place with $6.8 million for the weekend and $10 million since debuting Wednesday.

Hollywood’s box office slump continued, with revenues down for the fourth straight weekend. The top 12 movies grossed $127 million, down 9% from the same period last year, which was the highest-grossing Fourth of July weekend ever.

Terminator 3 out-grossed the opening weekend of its 1991 predecessor, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, by about 40%. But factoring in higher admission prices since then, Terminator 3 sold slightly fewer tickets.

Legally Blonde 2 outdid the opening weekend of its 2001 predecessor by about $2.5 million.

With an $11 million weekend, Finding Nemo pulled its total haul to $274.9 million, passing The Matrix Reloaded as the top-grossing movie so far this year. Finding Nemo also passed Shrek to become No. 2 on the all-time list for animated movies, second only to The Lion King, which grossed $328.5 million.