''Blade 2'' sliced and diced box office predictions, pulling in an estimated $33.1 million to land at No. 1 in another weekend of unusually robust early-spring grosses. The sequel almost doubled the $17.1 million first-week take of 1998's ''Blade,'' which introduced Wesley Snipes as the half-man, half-vampire Marvel Comics hero. And with the character now an officially successful franchise, expect a fast greenlight for ''Blade 3.''
The animated hit ''Ice Age,'' which was expected to spend a second week in the top spot, was instead bumped to No. 2, with $31.1 million in ticket sales, according to Exhibitor Relations (the film set a March release record with a $47.9 million debut last weekend). Despite missing No. 1 this time, ''Ice Age'''s continued strong showing is more good news for Fox's burgeoning animation efforts.
In third place was the much-hyped 20th anniversary re-release of ''E.T. The Extra Terrestrial,'' which grossed $15.1 million -- roughly one-third of what the original ''Star Wars'' earned in its 1997 re-release. The weekend's earnings push ''E.T.'''s total gross to $414.9 million, where it remains the fourth-highest earning film of all time, but is closing on ''Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace'' ($431.1 million).
The newly released comedy ''Sorority Boys'' failed to find an audience, earning only $4.2 million and landing at No. 9. The rest of the top 10: ''Showtime'' at No. 4, ''Resident Evil'' at No. 5, ''We Were Soldiers'' at No. 6, ''The Time Machine'' at No. 7, ''A Beautiful Mind'' at No. 8 and ''40 Days and 40 Nights'' at No. 10.
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