Pixar scores another hit with WALL-E

Robot love story WALL-E has shot to the top of the US box office, scoring a ninth consecutive hit for animation giant Pixar.

Meanwhile, Angelina Jolie achieved a personal best with her violent assassination thriller Wanted, which also stars Brit actor James McAvoy, and which nabbed the number two slot, raking in about $51.1 million (£25.6m)

Jolie's previous record for a live-action movie was Mr & Mrs Smith in 2005, which opened to $50 million (£25.1m).

Wanted, directed by Kazakhstan-born film-maker Timur Bekmambetov, sees McAvoy play a disillusioned officer-worker recruited to an elite order of assassins by Jolie and Morgan Freeman.

WALL-E, which sold an estimated $62.5 million (£31.3m) of tickets in its first three days, according to Pixar's Walt Disney Co parent, has tied with Monsters, Inc to become its third-best opener.

The space adventure about the lonely robot - Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class - mixes an unusual love story with sombre messages about the future of Earth and humankind.

Directed by Andrew Stanton, who won an Academy Award for Pixar's 2003 hit Finding Nemo, the film sees WALL-E tasked with cleaning up piles of litter discarded by humans who abandoned the planet centuries before.

He meets sleek girl robot Eve, who is sent to Earth by the humans who are off on a luxury space cruise during the five-year clean-up.

In the weekend takings, Warner Bros spy comedy Get Smart, which stars Steve Carell as the inept hero Maxwell Smart, slipped to number three with $20 million (£10m), taking its ten-day haul to $77.3 million (£38.8).

Rounding out the top five, Pixar rival DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc's Kung Fu Panda, which opened four weeks ago, slipped one to number four with $11.7 million (£5.8m) having grossed $179.3 million (£89.9m) so far.

The Incredible Hulk fell three to number five with $9.2 million (£4.6m) having earned $115.5 million (£58m) after three weeks.

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