Box Office: 'Battle: Los Angeles' assaults 'Rango' for no. 1

Any concerns that moviegoers would be too overwhelmed by today's Tsunami coverage to watch a disaster movie such as "Battle: Los Angeles" were completely unfounded.  The Sony Pictures genre flick grossed an impressive $13.5 million on Friday for what could be a $36-40 million weekend. That was more than enough to take down last weekend's champ "Rango."

The critically acclaimed animated hit found another $5.4 million on Friday for what should be an $18-20 million three-day gross.  The Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp reunion flick has now made $51.1 million in just eight days.

Not far behind on Friday, but expected to drop to third for the weekend was "Red Riding Hood."  Catherine Hardwicke's "Twilight" follow up ground just $5 million for what optimistically could be a $16 million three-day gross.  That's under pre-release polling which anticipated a $20 million debut.  Chances are the teenage girls who planned on seeing "Riding Hood" opted to attend "Battle: LA" with their boyfriends.

"The Adjustment Bureau" came in fourth with $3.4 million and $30.4 million since it debuted last weekend.  The Matt Damon and Emily Blunt thriller should eventually finish with between $60-70 million domestically.

Cracking the top five, but a huge financial disappointment for Walt Disney Studios was "Mars Needs Moms."  The last Imagemovers digital film made just $1.8 million for what would be a $6-7 million three-day at best.  That's close to a disaster for the studio considering the film's $150 million price tag. 

Look for final weekend estimates tomorrow on HitFix.