"Hotel Transylvania" Sets Record with $43 Million Debut

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Hotel Transylvania had a monster weekend at the box office. The animated film, featuring Adam Sandler as the voice of Dracula, earned an estimated $43 million to open in first place.

Hotel Transylvania set a record for the highest-grossing September debut, surpassing the $35.7 million raised by the Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama in 2002.

It's important to keep in mind, though, that ticket prices are higher today than they were a decade ago. Sweet Home Alabama actually sold more tickets during its opening weekend than Hotel Transylvania did over the past three days.

The Joseph Gordon-Levitt-Bruce Willis thriller Looper premiered in second place, collecting $21.2 million. In its first weekend in theaters, the comedy Pitch Perfect ranked sixth,military would not elaborate on the nature of his suspected crimes. But according to Hebrew media reports, the suspicions relate to bribes tied to construction on the base, as well as exceeding his authority and inappropriate behavior.According to the Walla news site, Ben Ami has been under investigation by the military police for an extended period of time. The report said that the investigation saw the use of wiretapping and interrogation of several military officers in addition to several contractors.Following the investigation, Ben Ami is said to be suspected of having ties to civilian companies which carried out construction projects at the base, as well as using military vehicles for personal purposes, and is also suspected of appointing the children of his friends and business associates to senior