LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Snow White" grabbing $56.3 million in its first weekend. The film also collected an additional $39.3 million in 45 international markets where it also opened this weekend.

In this version of the tale, the Evil Queen (Charlize Theron) discovers a maiden (Kristen Stewart) in the land fairer than she, but the queen doesn't know that the maiden has been training in the art of war with the huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) sent to kill her.

The success of "Snow White" was able to take away some of the sting associated with the failure of Universal Pictures' "Battleship," also distributed by Universal, and Warner Bros' vampire film "Dark Shadows," both of which fell by the wayside on account of the superhero opus "The Avengers."

"I'm very happy about it. The uniqueness of the campaign from the get-go made (the film) stand out as not just the quintessential fairy tale; it was telling a very different story," Nikki Rocco, president of domestic distribution at Universal Pictures says.

"Men in Black 3," which opened last week, collected $29.3 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters to fall to the No. 2 position on U.S. and Canadian box office charts.

Adding to the film's favor is the fact that "Snow White and the Huntsman," stars Kristen Stewart from the box office hit "The Twilight Saga" vampire films, Oscar-winner Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth from "The Avengers," the movie is the second film this year inspired by the classic fairy tale.

"Mirror Mirror," starring Julia Roberts as the evil queen released in March, failed to gain large audiences with $18 million on its first weekend and $62 million in domestic ticket sales.

Producers of that film rushed to beat "Snow White and the Huntsman" to the screen, changing their opening date from June to March.

"The filmmakers, producers and the talent knew how different this film would be. We had no concern whatsoever," Rocco says. "Mirror Mirror" was . targeted to little girls. They tried to make a comedy of it. That's not what we were intending to do."

"Snow White," made for $170 million, needed $42 million in ticket sales over the weekend to break-even.

A film generally completes its run with three times its opening weekend gross, and its studio gets about half the ticket sales revenue. A film also generates revenue from home video and other sales after its theatrical run.

The top ten movies this past weekend went like this:

1. "Snow White and the Huntsman," $56 million
2. "Men in Black III," $29.30 million
3. "The Avengers," $20.27 million
4. "Battleship," $4.81 million
5. "The Dictator," $4.73 million
6. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," $4.60 million
7. "What to Expect When You're Expecting," $4.43 million
8. "Dark Shadows," $3.86 million
9. "Chernobyl Diaries," $3.05 million
10. "For Greater Glory," $1.80 million

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