The animated character Wall-E is shown in a scene from the film "Wall-E". The film features dystopian landscapes, social commentary and a lack of conventional dialogue that are rare under the Walt Disney Co. banner, but it sticks to Pixar's basic themes of love, loyalty and friendship.- Xinhua/Reuters

Pixar Animation's sci-fi robot romance "Wall-E" opened this weekend with US$62.5 million at the top of box office in North America, as Hollywood's summer revenues keep growing to take advantage of economic woes.

"Wall-E" tells the love story of a lonely robot who was left behind on Earth to clean up trash when humans abandoned the over-polluted planet around 2700. He falls in love with a girl robot sent by humans from the space orbit to evaluate the situation at their home planet many years later.

Pixar continued its perfect track record at movie theaters as "Wall-E" became the ninth consecutive No. 1 film at box office by the Disney unit.

Meanwhile, Universal's thriller "Wanted" starring Angelina Jolie as a cold-blooded assassin also debuted to strong business with 51.1 million dollars, according to preliminary box office figures released yesterday.

And the strong box office performances of "Wall-E" and "Wanted" helped keep the Hollywood summer juggernaut rolling higher.

The 12 top-selling films took in US$179.2 million collectively this weekend, up 22 percent from the same weekend last year and representing the fifth consecutive up weekend for Hollywood after the lucrative summer season kicked off on May 2, according to Los Angeles-based tracking firm Media By Numbers.

Movie industry analysts say that the sluggish US economic and soaring gas prices may eventually become a boon to Hollywood, as more people tend to see movies and avoid traveling or other expensive entertainment like sports events and concerts.

Last week's box office leader, Warner Bros' spy comedy "Get Smart" slipped to No. 3 with estimated US$20 million over the weekend, followed by Dream Work Animation's "Kung Fu Panda" and Universal's "The Incredible Hulk" with US$11.7 million and 9.2 million respectively.