'Underworld: Awakening' takes weekend box office lead

People sure love watching Kate Beckinsale kick butt.

The Los Angeles Times reported the fourth movie in the Underworld film series took the top box office spot this weekend.

Screen Gems estimated Underworld: Awakening opened to $25.4 million, quite a big jump from the $20.8 million the third film, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, made in its opening weekend in 2009.

According to Reuters, George Lucas’ latest project, Red Tails, exceeded expectations, drawing in $19.1 million in ticket sales.

Meanwhile, Contagion producer Steven Soderbergh’s action thriller, Haywire, didn’t do so well its opening weekend, raking in a mere $9 million and trailing behind Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which earned $10.5 million during its first nationwide release weekend. The film had previously been shown on limited release in six movie theaters across the country and had earned $671,502 prior to its national release.

And although Haywire received great reviews from critics, movie-goers gave it a D+ rating on CinemaScore.

The weekend box office also showed encouraging signs for the movie industry. Ticket sales were up for the third week in a row this month, and there was a 32 percent increase in sales compared to this same weekend last year.