‘Ted’ outstrips ‘Mike’ in opening weekend

This film image released by Universal Pictures shows Mark Wahlberg, right, with the character Ted, voiced by Seth MacFarlane in a scene from "Ted." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures)

LOS ANGELES — It’s both a bear and bull market for Hollywood.

The bear is “Ted,” Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane’s comedy for Universal Pictures about a talking teddy bear, which opened as the No. 1 movie with $54.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

And the bulls are baring it in the Warner Bros. release “Magic Mike,” Channing Tatum and Steven Soderbergh’s male-stripper tale that debuted a strong No. 2 with $39.2 million.

The two new movies were backed by a deep bench, with Pixar Animation’s Disney fairy tale “Brave” holding up well at No. 3 with $34 million in its second weekend. “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection,” the latest from the dependable breadwinner for Lionsgate Films, opened solidly at No. 4 with $26.4 million.

The four movies combined to keep Hollywood in the money compared to the same weekend last year, when “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” launched with $97.9 million.

It was an equally big weekend overseas, where two huge franchises got a head-start on their U.S. openings.

The 20th Century Fox animated sequel “Ice Age: Continental Drift” opened with $78 million in 34 international markets, while Sony’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” debuted with $50.2 million in 13 markets. “Amazing Spider-Man” opens domestically Tuesday for the Fourth of July weekend, while “Continental Drift” has its U.S. debut July 13.

Domestic revenues totaled $207.7 million, up 3 percent from the same weekend in 2011, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. That was quite an accomplishment, considering the Fourth of July fell on Monday last year, making it a long holiday weekend.

“It was absolutely astonishing that we’re beating the same weekend a year ago given the enormity of the film, the big sci-fi blockbuster that opened then,” Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian said. “This played out like a holiday weekend without it really being a holiday weekend. It speaks volumes about the importance of having a wide variety of films in the marketplace.”

The only one that didn’t work among new wide releases was the sibling drama “People Like Us,” which tanked at No. 10 with $4.3 million. A DreamWorks release distributed by Disney, the movie features Chris Pine (Captain Kirk of “Star Trek”) as a man who gets himself into an awkward relationship with the half-sister (Elizabeth Banks) he never knew he had.

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More Information

Weekend box office

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Ted,” $54.1 million.

2. “Magic Mike,” $39.2 million.

3. “Brave,” $34 million ($6.7 million international).

4. “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection,” $26.4 million.

5. “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted,” $11.8 million ($16.2 million international).

6. “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” $6 million ($5 million international).

7. “Prometheus,” $4.93 million ($6.2 million international).

8. “Moonrise Kingdom,” $4.9 million.

9. “Snow White & the Huntsman,” $4.4 million.

10. “People Like Us,” $4.3 million.