Race to Witch Mountain knocked Watchmen off the top spot in movie box office receipts this past weekend. S. T. Karnick explains why.

Disney’s newly released family film Race to Witch Mountain finished first in U.S. movie box office receipts this past weekend, displacing Watchmen from the top perch.

Starring popular former wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Race to Witch Mountain brought in $25 million in its first weekend, about as expected. A Disney executive noted that although families constituted much of the audience, about one-fifth of ticket buyers were unaccompanied adults, apparently hoping for a renewal of their enjoyment of the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain, of which the present film is a remake–actually a reimagining with many changes from the original story.

Ticket sales for Watchmen dropped by a hefty 67 percent below the previous weekend, which is in line with expectations and with other big film releases of recent years. It brought in a total of $18.1 million over the weekend, for a ten-day take of $86 million. That’s a solid performance but probably not as good as the producers and distributors had hoped, though they are resolutely avoiding saying so.

The remake of the horror film The Last House on the Left finished third, snatching $14.7 million from the hands of American teenagers.

Wachtmen appears to be laboring under a burden of excessive violence and sex and general no-fun attitude, while the family-friendly Race to Witch Mountain has a very likeable star, action, humor, adventure, and high spirits, which bodes very well for continued sucess with audiences. I’d put my money on The Rock over Rorschach.