Weekend box office estimates:

After a disappointing start last weekend, ‘Shrek Forever After’ finishes its second weekend down a respectable 38.8% to $43.3 million and a total of $133 million.

In Shrek’s previous outing (‘Shrek the Third’), takings were down 56.4% in the second weekend, although after a substantially larger opening.

Next up is the first of two new releases failing to set the box office alight despite hopes of being amongst the summer’s biggest, ‘Sex and the City 2’. Opening to $32.1 million, ‘City’ does not get close to the $57 million of its predecessor. Even if the extended weekend AND $14.2 million from Thursday are taken into account, it will be a struggle to surpass this figure.

The other big release of the week is ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’ from super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer. $30.1 million is way down of the first ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie ($46.6 million), which Disney have made no secret of wishing to recreate. With a relentless slew of big movies hitting theatres over the next few months, ‘Prince’ is highly unlikely to have the staying power/opportunity to replicate ‘Pirates’ total of 6.5 times its opening ($305.4 million).

In fourth place is ‘Iron Man 2’, down 39.2% to $16 million and a four-week total of $274.6 million. Worldwide takings sit at $550 million and although the worldwide total of the first film ($585.1 million) will be beaten soon, ‘2’ may not have the legs to out-gross it domestically. $43.8 million separates the two.

Rounding out the top five is ‘Robin Hood’. $10.3 million (-45.1%) gives Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe $83 million after three weeks in theatres. Outside the States, ‘Hood’ has taken $154.6 million, for a worldwide total of $237.6 million.

Elsewhere in the top 10, ‘Date Night’ has yet another small drop (39.9%) for $1.7 million in its eighth weekend and $93.4 million altogether. ‘MacGruber’ continues to plummet - $1.4 million brings its total to $7.1 million, doing nothing to suggest there is any appetite for SNL spinoffs.

‘Alice in Wonderland’ has now passed the $1 billion dollar mark and will shortly overtake ‘The Dark Knight’ to become the fifth biggest movie worldwide. This feat makes Johnny Depp the only actor to have two films break the billion dollar mark, the first being ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest’. ‘Alice’ is also the second 3D movie to make a billion dollars.

Estimates in full:
Shrek Forever After – $43,345,000
Sex and the City 2 – $32,125,000
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – $30,170,000
Iron Man 2 – $16,035,000
Robin Hood – $10,305,000
Letters to Juliet – $5,900,000
Just Wright – $2,200,000
Date Night – $1,750,000
MacGruber – $1,477,000
How to Train Your Dragon – $1,025,000

Figures from boxofficemojo.com

Next week sees the release of comedy 'Get Him To The Greek', 'Killers' and 'Splice'. Which will you be seeing and what will the box office look like?

If you haven't seen the trailer for 'Splice', starring Adrien Brody, take a look below.