Going into the weekend, Alt Disney Pictures was projecting a weekend total roundabouts $25 million for the ubiquitously promoted robot-boxing film starring Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly, and its performance on Friday had the movie on track to do just that.  The family-friendly approach paid off, though as Saturday saw a significant uptick in attendance, with parents who already bought The Lion King 3D on Blu-ray and unwilling to take the kids to a second viewing of Dolphin Tale showed up in force.  Largely on the strength of Saturday, the film wound up with an estimated $27.3 million in its opening.

If you consider Real Steel a boxing movie, then this qualifies it as the biggest boxing-movie opening ever, ahead of Rocky IV, in which Rocky Balboa ended the Cold War with just his fists and his lovable imbecility.  Given that Rocky IV pulled in $20 million over its opening in 1985, though, adjusted for inflation it would still take the cake, and its attendance was much greater.  Obviously, though, the film would rank lower in a listing of robot movies, but still.  With a budget in the area of $100, Real Steel is going to need some legs, but audiences seem to love it, and word-of-mouth should be strong domestically.  And internationally, this sort of visual effects-heavy simple tale generally cleans up.

While Real Steel is essentially designed to cast a wide net across demographics, the fourth directorial feature from George Clooney is a far more specific feature.  Though it boasts a cast of hugely respected actors – from leading man Ryan Gosling to Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti, and Clooney himself – The Ides of March is an unapologetically humorless and heavy story of disillusionment during a presidential primary campaign.  Certainly doesn't have the escapist appeal of robots beating the hell out of each other. 

Accordingly, the film opened with an estimated $10.4 million in receipts.  No official budget for The Ides of March has yet been released, but it's definitely not a crazy-costly movie.  The opening is pretty standard for Clooney in serious grown-up mode.  Last year, the Clooney-starring The American opened to $13.1 million, while in 2007, Michael Clayton bowed with $10.3 million.

Dolphin Tale, which was the latest holdover to grab the number one spot last weekend, fell to third place this week, losing 34% of its audience and posting an estimated $9.1 million.  In fourth place, Moneyball added another $7.5 million.  In three weeks, these two films have amassed $49.0 million and $49.2 million, respectively.  Dolphin Tale's 3D screens have likely added a little bit of juice, but its impressive nonetheless.  With andThe Ides of March and Moneyball, Sony Pictures passed the $1 billion mark for 201, joining Paramount, Disney, and Warner Bros.

The well-reviewed cancer-themed comedy-drama 50/50 maintained the fifth place spot for the second consecutive week, declining just over 36% based largely on positive word of mouth.  It's ten day total now stands at $17.3 million, which is none too shabby for a low budget film with difficult-to-market subject matter.  The Christian drama Courageous, meanwhile, fell a pretty steep 49.5% in its second weekend, but it has pulled in $15.8 million, which considerably outpaces Sherwood Pictures' last release, the surprise hit Fireproof.

After dominating the month of September, Disney's 3D re-release of The Lion King is finally slowing down, thanks mostly to the release of the much-hyped Blu-ray DVD earlier in the week.  With an estimated $4.55 million in earnings this weekend, the animated feature has now pulled in $85.9 million and brought the 1994 film's theatrical total for the last seventeen years up to $414.5 million.

Here's the list of this weekend's top ten box office estimates:

1. Real Steel                                                   $27.3 million         New Release

2. The Ides of March                                      $10.4 million         New Release

3. Dolphin Tale                                               $9.1 million          $49.0 million

4. Moneyball                                                   $7.5 million          $49.2 million

5. 50/50                                                           $5.5 million          $17.3 million

6. Courageous                                                $4.6 million          $15.8 million

7. The Lion King 3D                                       $4.55 million        $85.9 million

8. Dream House                                             $4.5 million          $14.5 million

9. What's Your Number?                               $3.0 million          $10.3 million

10. Abduction                                                $2.9 million          $23.3 million

The upcoming weekend sees the addition of no less than three wide releases: The Footloose remake, that The Thing prequel, and The Big Year, a comedy starring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson.