Cast members Will Smith (L), Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman (R) pose at the movie premiere of "Hancock" at Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California June 30. The movie opens in the US on July 2.- Xinhua/Reuters

Sony Pictures' superhero movie "Hancock" sparked the box office fireworks over this Independence Day weekend in the United States, breaking the US$100-million sale mark in its first week of release, preliminary figures released yesterday showed.

The Will Smith action film about a down-on-his-luck superhero, opened on Tuesday before the Fourth of July holiday, will take in estimated US$107.3 million in North America by the close of business last night, according to box office tracking firm Media By Numbers.

Meanwhile, "Hancock" easily bested Disney-Pixar animation feature "Wall-E" for the weekend-only crown, taking in about US$66 million over the three-day period.

Last week's box office leader "Wall-E" is expected to sell impressive US$33.4 million this weekend, bringing a two-week total of US$128.1 million for the animated robot romance.

Universal's action thriller "Wanted" from Universal was in third place this weekend with estimated US$20.6 million in ticket sales, followed by Warner Bros' spy action "Get Smart" and Dream Work Animation's "Kung Fu Panda" with US$11.1 million and US$7.5 million respectively.

The weekend also saw teen movie adaptation of "An American Girl" book, "Kit Kittredge: All American Girl," sneak in the back door of the top ten. The film starring popular child actress Abigail Breslin was in eighth place with US$3.6 million.

Hollywood's overall business slipped for the first time in a month, as the top-selling 12 films took in US$158.5 million collectively, down 4 percent from the same period last year, when Dream Work's "Transformers" opened.