3-D movies continued to dominate the box office as 'How to Train Your Dragon' became the top-grossing film this weekend.
The DreamWorks animated film took in $43.3 million at the domestic box office in its debut weekend.
In recent months, the 3-D movies 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Avatar' have dominated the charts. Another major 3-D movie, 'Clash of the Titans' (Warner Bros.), starring 'Avatar's' Sam Worthington, is due out this week. (To read more about 'Clash of the Titans,' go here.)
'Alice in Wonderland' (Disney), directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, placed second this weekend with $17.3 million. The film has grossed $293 million domestically so far.
'Hot Tub Time Machine' (MGM), a fantasy-comedy starring John Cusack, finished third with $13.7 million.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that major U.S. movie-theater chains were imposing steep ticket price increases, largely on 3-D films, because such showings had proved to be popular. The price hikes, which went into effect this weekend, were in at least one case as high as 26%.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office division of Hollywood.com, said via email that 3-D is proving its appeal to audiences with the success of movies like 'How to Train Your Dragon.' 'Thus far, a 3-D film has topped the box-office chart for nine out of the thirteen weekends of 2010,' Dergarabedian said.