Twentieth Century Fox'sanimated family romp Robots opened topover the weekend on an estimated $36.5m, while the much delayed Hostage finally opened in fourth place through Miramax on$9.8m.

Meanwhile last weekend's champion The Pacifier was shunted into second place on $18.1mfor $54.4m in its second weekend through Buena Vista, and MGM's Be Cool slipped one to third on $10.3m for$38.4m after the same amount of time.

Sony's romantic comedy Hitch will pass $150 any day now after it added $8.7m for $149.8min its fifth weekend. The picture fell two places to fifth.

Warner Bros' Million Dollar Baby fell one to sixth for $83.9m in its 13thweekend, as The Aviator,released in North America through Miramax, stayed in 11th place and is within awhisker of $100m after adding $1.4m for $99.1m.

Robots isthe latest animated picture from Blue Sky Studios and was again directed byChris Wedge. However it didn't debut as strongly as Ice Age, which opened top on $46.3m exactlythree years ago.

The CGI release centres on a robot-infested planet where anideological inventor's dream of making the world a better place is challengedby a corporate tyrant. Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry and Robin Williams providethe voice talent for the well-received picture, which averaged $9,666 on 3,776screens.

In Hostage,Bruce Willis plays a negotiator who must overcome fear of failure when twobrothers take a family captive. Kevin Pollack and Jonathan Tucker also star inFlorent-Emilio Siri's picture, which opened to mediocre reviews and averaged anOK $4,633 on 2,123 screens.

Next weekend's wide releases are: Buena Vista's family picture IcePrincess starringMichelle Trachtenberg; and DreamWorks' horror sequel The Ring Two starring Naomi Watts and Simon Baker.

Estimated Top Ten US Mar 11-13 2005

Film (Distributor)/International distribution/Estimated weekendgross/Estimated total to date

1 (-) Robots (Fox) Fox International $36.5m -

2 (1) The Pacifier (Buena Vista) BVI/Spyglass $18.1m $54.4m

3 (2) Be Cool (MGM) Fox International $10.3m $38.4m

4 (-) Hostage (Miramax) Syndicate $9.8m -

5 (3) Hitch (Sony) SPRI $8.7m $149.8m

6 (5) Million Dollar Baby (Warner Bros) Lakeshore $5.1m $83.9m

7 (4) Diary Of A Mad Black Woman (Lions Gate) LGFI $5m $44.1m

8 (6) Constantine (Warner Bros) Warner Bros Intl $3.7m $66.3m

9 (8) Man Of The House (Columbia/Revolution) SPRI $1.8m $16.6m

10 (7) Cursed(Dimension) MiramaxInt'l $1.6m $17.8m