KARATE KID DROPKICKS THE COMPETITION

As predicted, Sony Pictures' Karate Kid did a giant Dropkick and a victorious "Hai-ya!" on the Box Office this weekend. In its opening weekend, it pulled in $56 million, doubling that of Fox's The A-Team, which earned still a very impressive $26 million, making for an '80s revival Top Two, as both are remakes of iconic trademarks from that era.

Three-week champion Shrek Forever Forever After slipped to third this weekend with $15.8 million, just ahead of Get Him to The Greek which brought in $10.1 million.

Sex and The City 2 continues to tumble its way down with $5.5 million in eighth spot, and its sister film Splice, also from Warner Bros., rounds out the Top Ten with $2.9 million.

SPLICE REVIEW

Director/Screenwriter Vincenzo Natali's Splice is an interesting examination of the ethics of genetic cloning and the consequences of doing so.  Canadian actress/director Sarah Polley plays Elsa and Oscar winner Adrien Brody plays Clive, and the two are a couple who work for scientific research company N.E.R.D.  They create genetic organisms via the splicing of different species of animals in the name of revolutionizing Science and Medicine.  Elsa however wants to take things a level further on her own accord, secretly incorporating human DNA into the mix.  She infuses her own genetics into the creation of a new hybrid organism, which Clive is against, but winds up aiding.

The experiment goes awry with the creature they create being born early and what results is Dren (Delphine Chanéac), a mysterious female part-human, part animal.  Maturing at an alarming rate, she grows to the human equivalent of 50 human years of age.  Despite Elsa's reassurance that she would not get emotionally invested in Dren, she fights for its survival against Clive's wishes.  Both uncertain whether or not the creature is in fact dangerous, their relationship becomes strained as they become preoccupied with both hiding their secret experiment from their employer and at the same time struggling to keep Dren alive as part of their groundbreaking work.

"SHREK" AND GET HIM TO THE GREEK NECK AND NECK

In what's looking like a neck and neck battle to the finish this weekend at the Box Office, two-week champion Shrek Forever After is holding a narrow lead with $6.5 million based on Friday's numbers over Universal Pictures' Get Him to the Greek, which made $6.2 million.  The difference though is that Shrek is playing at 4.386 theatres, while Get Him to the Greek is playing at only 2,697 theatres.  The comedy which is a spin-off of successful romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall has been praised by critics with a very decent 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Killers from Lionsgate Films is poised to debut in third after a decent showing in third spot with $5.7 million.  The comedy stars Grey's Anatomy's Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher.  The film has been panned universally as films starring Kutcher normally do.