Universal's The Break-Up was the surpriseleader at the North American box office this weekend, opening in top spot aftera dramatic second-week drop by Fox's X-Men: The Last Stand.

With Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn starring asa bickering couple, The Break-Up grossed an estimated $38.1m from 3,070theatres (for a strong average of $12,395), considerably more than had beenexpected at the start of the weekend.

Though reviews for the unromantic romantic comedywere mostly negative, the film, directed by Peyton Reed (Bring It On, DownWith Love), was substantially helped by publicity surrounding the stars'real-life relationship and seems to have appealed to both male and femaleaudiences.

The opening was bigger than those for Vaughn's summer2005 hit The Wedding Crashers (which went on to make $209m domestically)and 1999 summer rom-com Runaway Bride (which ended up with $152m).

X-Men: The Last Stand grossed an estimated$34.4m from 3,714 theatres (average - $9,249), down almost 67% from its record-breakingthree-day opening figure for the Memorial Day weekend.

The comic-book sequel's domestic total reached$175.7m, but the drop-off does not bode well for the film's longevity. Theoriginal X-Men declined 57% in its second weekend, and X2: X-MenUnited dropped only 53% (though both films had opened over non-holidayweekends).

Paramount's Over the Hedge held on very wellin its third weekend, dropping just 24% to gross an estimated $20.6m from 3,993theatres (average - $5,171). With major competition coming next weekend from Cars,the DreamWorks animated comedy has grossed $112.4m domestically to date.

Sony's The Da Vinci Code was down a veryrespectable 43% in its third weekend, taking $19.3m from 3,757 theatres(average - $5,137), for a total to date of $172.7m.

Other holdovers also exhibited some staying power:Paramount's Mission: Impossible III was off only 33% in its fifth weekto $4.7m (for a total to date of $122.7m); Poseidon fell 40% in itsfourth week to $3.4m (for a total of $51.7m); Sony's RV was down a mere21% in its sixth week to $3.3m (for a total of $61.8m); and Lionsgate's SeeNo Evil slid 25% in its third week to $2m (for a total of $12.4m).

The only other new entry in the top ten wasParamount Vantage's An Inconvenient Truth, which expanded from four to77 theatres and grossed $1.3m, for an average of $17,299, the best of any charttitle. The global warming documentary featuring Al Gore has now grossed $1.9mdomestically in two weeks.

Next weekend's wide releases are: Buena Vista and Pixar's computer animatedcomedy adventure Cars, featuring the voices of Owen Wilson and PaulNewman; Fox's horror remake The Omen, which opens on Tuesday with JuliaStiles and Live Schreiber starring; and Picturehouse's comedy A Prairie HomeCompanion, whose ensemble cast includes Meryl Streep, Garrison Keillor andLindsay Lohan.

Estimated Top Ten North America June 2-4, 2006

Film (Distributor)/Internationaldistribution/Estimated weekend

gross/Estimated total to date

1 (-) The Break-Up (Universal) UIP $38.1m -

2 (1) X-Men: The Last Stand (Fox) Fox Intl$34.4m $175.7m

3 (3) Over The Hedge (Paramount) UIP $20.6m$112.4m

4 (2) The Da Vinci Code (Sony) SPRI $19.3m$172.7m

5 (4) Mission: Impossible III (Paramount)UIP $4.7m $122.7m

6 (5) Poseidon (Warner) Warner $3.4m $51.7m

7 (6) RV (Sony) SPRI $3.3m $61.8m

8 (7) See No Evil (Lionsgate) LFI $2m $12.4m

9 (22) An Inconvenient Truth (ParamountVantage) UIP $1.3m $1.9m

10 (8) Just My Luck (Fox) Fox Intl $825,000$15.6m