Despite predictions that The Lion King wouldn’t stay #1 this week, but apparently you can’t knock the king off his throne.

The power of Disney is a tough one to overcome, and while some analysts thought The Lion King couldn’t hold on to #1 for a second week, it did, bringing in a remarkable $22.1 million.  For a 17-year-old film, you have to give it a hat tip for having that sort of draw.

Moneyball was presumed to knock it out of #1, and after it won Friday’s box office everyone presumed it would win the weekend.  It brought in a decent $20.6 million, but it just didn’t have enough gas behind it to knock out a beloved Disney classic.

Coming in third was Dolphin Tale with $20.26 million, and there is some speculation it may actually take second when the final grosses are reported later today.  I would imagine it would have done better without another family film out there, but I’m not sure anyone could have predicted this current weekend playing out the way it did.

Abduction was expected to do better than fourth seeing as it stars Taylor Lautner from the Twilight series, but it raked in only $11.2 million, well below its expectations.  I think the majority of the actors from that series are in for a rude awakening as they try to find other work with the conclusion of that series.  They weren’t the ones drawing folks in, and compared to the Harry Potter kids, they also don’t have the apparent talent to back it up.

Rounding out the top five was Killer Elite starring Jason Statham. This was the weakest opening yet for one of his films brining in only $9.5 million. Perhaps everyone is finally realizing he plays the exact same role in every film.

Last week’s new releases of Straw Dogs tumbled 59 percent to an embarrassingly weak $2.1 million in ninth place. Fairing even worse was the Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle, I Don’t Know How She Does It which fell 53 percent to 10th place with an anemic $2 million. Apparently Ms. Parker is really going to need to consider another Sex and the City at this point.

Next week will see the releases of 50/50, Courageous, Dream House and What’s Your Number?, which sounds like another week of lackluster debuts. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another repeat for The Lion King.

Conan the Barbarian?  Down to 56 theaters and $20,800.  Meanwhile, Bridesmaids, which hit home video this week, had 111 theaters still and did $78.800.  I’m sorry … I love a train wreck.

The Lion King originally hit theaters in 1994, but apparently if you slap some 3D on it and re-release it 17 years, you can once again take the #1 spot.

More than likely Disney could have skipped the 3D process and still won the weekend, but any way you slice it, The Lion King in 3D brought in a healthy $29.3 million.

Contagion slipped 35.4% to land in second place with $14.48 million. This is a great performance for any film in its second week, so it’s appearing that the public was ready for a thriller.

The ultra-violent Drive found itself in third place with $11 million, boding for a not so great future for the film.  It had great buzz from the Cannes Film Festival, but we’ll just have to see how it does after its had some time out in the public.

The Help fell to fourth place, but is still bringing in a healthy amount of money with another $6.4 million, bringing its total to $147.3 million. Off of a $25 million budget, it appears we have a clear it on our hands.

Closing up the top five was the remake of Straw Dogs with a very timid $5 million. Another new release for this week, I Don’t Know How She Does It, came in sixth with a highly disappointing $4.5 million.

Next week will see Abduction, Dolphin Tale, Killer Elite and Moneyball, none of which sounds like they will exactly take the box office by storm.

And, yes, Conan the Barbarian … oh poor, Conan. Dropping to 153 theaters it brought in $78,000 after 31 days of release. Adding insult to injury, Bridesmaids has been out for 129 days, has 170 theaters and did $124,000 this weekend … how many executives have been fired thus far over the disaster that is Conan?

Cars 2 sped into first place this weekend, but before you sound the horn, there are a couple caveats.

Cars 2 did indeed come in first this weekend with an estimated $68 million, but as Pixar films go, that’s nothing to sing about. Going on attendance as opposed to dollars due to inflation, the second film in the series only beat out A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille and Toy Story. While people weren’t exactly clamoring for this sequel, the merchandising from the first movie did so well that it is believed that is about the only reason this film exists. Another movie, more merchandise.

We’ll see how it fares with a couple more weekends,but it doesn’t look like this one will be setting the film world on fire like some of the previous Pixar productions.

Coming in second was the new Cameron Diaz vehicle, Bad Teacher.  It brought in an estimated $31 million, but Sony has to be singing songs of happiness today as the audience skewed 63 percent female.  Along the same lines as the current hit Bridesmaids that is still bringing in several million a week.

Normally a film sees around a 40 to 50 percent drop in its second weekend. Then you have Green Lantern. Coming in at $18.5 million, that’s around a 65 percent drop from the first weekend. I think we can officially classify this movie as a disaster at this point.

Super 8 came in fourth with $12.1 million, bringing it’s total to $95.2 million and in line with films of this type.

Rounding out the top five Mr. Popper’s Penguins with $10.3 million.  The fact this movie even exists boggles my mind, so lets just leave it there.

The only major release next week is Transformers: Dark of the Moon … PREPARE FOR BAYHEM!

Yes, it’s true, a $53.2 million opening weekend is a disappointment in this day and age for big budget films. Add in the fact that Green Lantern was supposed to shepherd in a new age of movies based on DC Comics, and it gets even worse.

Where the issues for Green Lantern really kick in is that revenue dropped 22 percent between Friday and Saturday, a far larger than usual number for a major film.  There is no way the pounding this film took from the critics didn’t play a factor, and the average comments on sites such as Twitter that I saw over the weekend eld me to believe the paid reviewers got it right this time.

The final insult?  Based on attendance instead of dollar amount, Green Lantern fared worse than Daredevil or Ghost Rider … ouch.

Coming in second was Super 8 with $21.2 million, just over a 40 percent decline from last week, but seeing as 50 percent is considered average, this film may have some legs to it.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins opened in third place with $18.2 million.  I think this means we’re officially over Jim Carrey, and I for once couldn’t be happier about this.  He hasn’t been funny in years, and even then it was very touch and go when he actually was good.  Even discounting Carrey, this film did poorly for a summer family film, apparently no one wanted to watch a movie about a guy with penguins in his house.

X-Men: First Class came in third with $11.5 million and a decline of 52.5 percent from last weekend.  This marks the third worst weekend for any X-Men film, so it looks like this one is definitely not living up to expectations.

Rounding out the top 5 was The Hangover: Part II with $9.6 million, off 45.5 percent from last weekend.  It’s still at $233.1 million domestic gross, however, off of an $80 million dollar budget.  Translation?  It’s in the black.  I still would say a third film is on the way.

Other recent films such as Kung-Fu Panda 2 took a major hit, falling to sixth and not performing anywhere near expectations with $8.7 million this weekend. Bridesmaids brought in nearly $7.5 million and just keeps chugging along. This movie just won’t quit.

Next week?  Cars 2 from Pixar … prepare for an astronomical number.

The latest film from J.J. Abrams, Super 8, had a $37 million opening weekend which surpassed last minute predictions, but still fell short of what the studio was hoping for.

On the same weekend last yet, The Karate Kid remake opened to $56 million, far exceeding studio projections, so a low opening for one of the most hyped filks of the summer is sure to have disappointed.  While the $37 million surpassed industry experts projections, the studio was surely hoping for more with Abrams and Spielberg attached, and a huge marketing campaign behind it.

The issue is, I think people are tiring of Abrams’ super cryptic shtick of telling you next to nothing about a film before its opening.  Excitement was huge for Cloverfield, and it ended up just being a horrible film.  Some audience trepidation for a film market in a similar manner is totally understandable.  The good news is that audience satisfaction is high with this project, so odds are it will have some staying power and not suffer the usual 50 percent fall of a second weekend.

Speaking of 50 percent falls, X-Men First Class fell 55 percent this weekend to $25 million, landing it in second place.  As X-Men films go, that actually was the second lowest drop in the series, coming in behind X2: X-Men United.

The Hangover: Part II fell another 41 percent to to $18.5 million, crossing the $200 million mark on its 16th day of release.  It’s falling off much faster than the original film, but due its spectacular start, the third film is still a given.

Kung-Fu Panda 2 only fell 30 percent this week, coming in with $16.6 million.  It seems to finally be leveling out and could hang around for some time now.

Rounding out the top five was Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides which fell 40 percent from last weekend to bring in $10.8 million. It surpassed $200 million on its 22nd day of release, and looks set to be the worst performing film in the series domestically. However, it’s total worldwide gross is now at $886,774,000. Off a $250 million dollar budget, I wouldn’t write this series off yet.

Normally I stop at the top five, but Bridesmaids brought in another $10.2 million, falling only 16 percent from last weekend. It’s now up to $123.9 million off a $32.5 million budget. Not bad at all.

Green Lantern is up next weekend, lets see how one of the most anticipated films of the summer does.

X-Men: First Class may have won the weekend, but it didn’t perform anywhere close to expectations.

Clocking in at $55 million, the newest film in the X-Men franchise beat the debut of the original film from back in 2000, but just barely.  Adjusted for inflation, the prequel fell short of the original based on attendance numbers, and considering the $160 million dollar budget, that is most definitely not a good thing.

The Hangover Part II brought in $31.4 million for a 63 percent drop from last weekend.  Apparently the bad word of mouth finally caught up with it.  It actually brought in less than the original did on its second weekend, but the damage is already done for this film to be considered a success, and a third film is already in the scripting stage.

Also not fairing well was Kung-Fu Panda 2 which fell 50 percent to $23.9 million this weekend.  The original fell 44 percent in its second weekend, and 50 percent is almost unheard of for an animated film in its second weekend.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides fell another 55 percent from its previous fall last week to bring in $18 million.  It’s domestic total stands at $190.2 million, but it’s raking it in on the foreign markets for a worldwide total of $790.8 million.  Rounding at the top five was Bridesmaids which actually had the best weekend statistically with $12 million.

It’s a sad day when Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides making $90 million in its opening weekend is somewhat of a disappointment.

The fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series has gone to show that there is definitely a law of diminishing returns when it comes to some sequels.  Opening on a whopping 4,155 screens, the film brought in $90.1 million this weekend, a $21,685 per-screen average, which is nothing to crow about.  Adjusting for inflation, the attendance was way off for this entry in the series, but the true test will be how it holds up in the coming weeks.

Oddly enough, according to Box Office Mojo, the film did really well in the foreign markets, bringing in $256.3 million, and setting records in multiple countries for an opening weekend.  Despite the lower than expected domestic opening, the franchise still has some life in it, and a fifth film in the series seems almost guaranteed when you count in home video sales and television rights.

In the interesting realm this weekend, Bridesmaids held on to second place, bringing in $21 million this weekend, only dropping 19.8% from its opening weekend.  A normal drop in the second weekend is more in the range of 50%, so it looks like this all female comedy may have the makings of a sleeper comedy hit, especially when you factor in its $32.5 million budget.

Thor fell to third place, bringing in $15.5 million, bringing its total to $146 million domestically.

In fourth place was Fast Five with another $10.6 million, bringing its total to $186.2 million, and it became the most successful of the series as of this past week.  The Fast and the Furious series has shown that some series can go on to be even bigger as it goes on,which makes the Pirates of the Caribbean performance this weekend that much more stark in contrast.

Some days the mysteries of the film industry are just astounding.