'Hotel Transylvania' Leads Weekend Box Office Pent-up demand for a new animated movie and a long and lively marketing campaign powered Sony's "Hotel Transylvania" to No. 1 at North American theaters over the weekend. The film, which cost at least $85 million to make, outperformed expectations to take in about $43 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box-office data. An elated Sony e-mailed reporters on Sunday morning to announce "a monster hit on our hands!!!!!!" "Looper," an R-rated action movie starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, was second, with an estimated $21.2 million in ticket sales; Sony distributed this movie, a collaboration between Endgame Entertainment and China's DMG Entertainment that cost about $30 million to make. "End of Watch" (Open Road) was third, taking in about $8 million, for a two-week total of $26.2 million. Clint Eastwood's "Trouble With the Curve" (Warner Brothers) trundled along in fourth place, taking in about $7.5 million, for a two-week total of $23.7 million. Fifth place went to "House at the End of the Street" (Relativity), which sold about $7.2 million in tickets, for a two-week total of $22.2 million. Also notable over the weekend: "Pitch Perfect," a Universal Pictures comedy, took in a huge $5.2 million in 335 theaters ahead of its wider release on Oct. 5; and Walden Media's "Won't Back Down," an education reform drama starring Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal, bombed, selling about $2.7 million in tickets in wide release.