I, Robot knocks Spider-man from No 1 position

WILL Smith’s sci-fi thriller, I, Robot, is yet another No 1 July debut, opening with $52.25 million and bumping Spider-Man 2 from the top spot at the weekend box office in the US, according to studio estimates.

I, Robot is Smith’s best debut ever, coming in just ahead of Independence Day, Men in Black and Men in Black II, all July premieres that opened in the $50 million to $52 million range.

“My God, this guy opens movies,” said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution at 20th Century Fox, which released I, Robot. “He’s just so likable, he takes something like science fiction, which can be a little cold, and he makes it warm and entertaining.”

After two weekends in first place, Spider-Man 2 slipped to No. 2 with $24.2 million, lifting its total domestic haul to $301.7 million after just 19 days. The movie crossed the $300 million mark three days faster than the original Spider-Man.

The weekend’s other new wide release, Hilary Duff’s romance, A Cinderella Story, premiered in third place with $13.8 million.

Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 held on at No. 5 with $7 million, raising its domestic total to $93.8 million. Moore’s assault on President Bush over the September 11 attacks has become the undisputed box-office champ among documentaries, passing the $84.4 million domestic haul of the IMAX film, Everest.

I, Robot stars Smith as a police detective in 2035 who suspects a robot has committed a murder.

A Cinderella Story stars Duff as a saintly California teen slaving away for her odious stepmother and stepsisters in a modern update of the fairy tale.

In narrow release, Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger’s The Door in the Floor, adapted from John Irving’s novel A Widow for One Year, took in $444,983 in 47 theatres.

Maria Full of Grace, which won an audience favourite award at January’s Sundance Film Festival, also opened strongly, taking in $124,000 at seven theaters.