"Texas Chainsaw 3-D" shadows rivals to claim box office No.1

 LOS ANGELES, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Wielding¹ a sharp tool in a cut- throat box office derby in the post-holiday period, "Texas Chainsaw 3-D" drew droves of horror fans and sliced up major cinematic rivals including "Django" and "Hobbit" to take the top place in North America over the weekend.

The blood-drenched monster remake distributed by Lionsgate is on pace for a 23 million U.S. dollar three-day gate as it defied pre-release expectations of 15 million dollars to finish as the most popular film in its first three days of release.

The better-than-expected debut² of the R-rated horror flick³, made by Twisted Pictures, came in line with a tradition of horror films performing exceedingly well in early January when big-budget tentpoles have already made their debuts⁴.

The film, aided by the 3-D format⁵ which is a first in the horror franchise⁶, earned a "C+" rating on CinemaScore. A young moviegoer-skewing fare, it drew 64 percent of audience which was younger than 25 years and 48 percent male.

"Django Unchained" finished second with a 20 million dollar weekend. The slave epic⁷, on track for a two-week gross of 106.4 million dollars, is the highest grossing film for director Quentin Tarantino.

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," in exhibition for the fourth week, fell two spots from last weekend to claim No. 3 with a 17.5 million dollar gate. The Peter Jackson directed 3-D fantasy film is on pace for a 263.8 million dollar gross in North America.

Rounding out the 10 most-popular movies in Norh America this weekend were "Les Miserables (USD16.1 million), "Parental⁹ Guidance " (10.1 million dollars), "Jack⁸ Reacher" (9.3 million dollars), " This Is 40" (8.6 million dollars), "Lincoln" (5.3 million dollars), "The Guilt¹⁰ Trip" (4.5 million dollars), and "Promised Land (2012)" (4.3 million dollars).

1 wielding   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The rebels were wielding sticks of dynamite. 叛乱分子舞动着棒状炸药。
• He is wielding a knife. 他在挥舞着一把刀。

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

4 debuts   

演员首次演出( debut的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He never really debuts the idea of taking money from his parents any longer. 他从此就再也没有认真起过向父母要钱的念头。
• This young soprano debuts next month at the metropolitan opera. 这位年轻的女高音歌唱家下个月将在纽约大都会歌剧院举行首演。

5 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

6 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

7 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

9 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

10 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。