Box Office: Cars 2 Speeds to the Top

Cars 2 opened with an estimated $68 million, easily enough to win the weekend, and the fourth-strongest opening weekend of 2011. The other new wide release, Bad Teacher, also opened strong, with an estimated $31 million on a smallish production budget.

Here’s the complete top five, courtesy of BoxOfficeMojo.

1. Cars 2 $68,000,000
2. Bad Teacher $31,000,000
3. Green Lantern $18,350,000
4. Super 8 $12,100,000
5. Mr. Popper’s Penguins $10,300,000

In limited release action, Midnight in Paris again made the top 10 with less than a thousand theaters. Tree of Life also upped its worldwide take to $21 million, finishing in 12th place for the weekend.

Next weekend, Transformers: Dark of the Moon will almost certainly take the crown, though there’s a legitimate romantic comedy race as Larry Crowne faces off against Monte Carlo.