July 6 (Bloomberg) -- ``Hancock,'' the Will Smith film about a derelict superhero, was the top film at U.S. and Canadian theaters over the July 4 weekend, collecting $66 million in ticket sales for Sony Corp.

The weekend's other new release, ``Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,'' opened in eighth place with sales of $3.6 million for Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., Media By Numbers LLC said today in an e-mailed statement.

Sony has struggled at the box office this year. Ticket sales for the company's films dropped 46 percent to $490 million in the U.S. through June 29 from a year earlier, according to researcher Box Office Mojo LLC. Before the weekend, ``You Don't Mess with the Zohan,'' starring Adam Sandler as an Israeli commando who moves to New York to cut hair, was Sony's biggest movie with $91.2 million in sales.

``This is a very important movie for them,'' Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, said in an interview. ``The reviews have been decidedly mixed, but if you look at the numbers, the Sony marketing machine and Will Smith's recognition transcend any barbs the movie might sustain.''

In ``Hancock,'' Smith plays a hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor. After saving the life of a publicist played by Jason Bateman, the PR man tries to repair the superhero's image by sending him to rehab and having him serve a prison sentence. The movie cost $150 million to produce, according to Internet Movie Database.

`Kit Kittredge'

Since July 2 the movie has made $107.3 million. ``Hancock'' received poor reviews, with 53 positive write-ups of the 147 tracked as of July 3 on RottenTomatoes.com.

``Kit Kittredge'' features Abigail Breslin, star of ``Little Miss Sunshine,'' as a young woman growing up during the early years of the Great Depression. The movie, made for about $10 million, is based on the line of ``American Girl'' dolls, according to IMDb. The movie has collected $6.13 million.

``Wall-E,'' the animated film about a robot who is left behind after humans flee Earth, fell to second place from first with sales of $33.4 million for Walt Disney Co.'s Pixar studio.

Wall-E, short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class, is left to clear garbage left by humans who have abandoned the planet to live in space ships. He falls in love with another robot, Eve, the Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator sent to Earth to look for signs of life.

`Wanted'

``Wanted,'' from General Electric Co.'s Universal Pictures fell to third place from second, with ticket sales of $20.6 million. The film stars Angelina Jolie as a professional killer who recruits an unmotivated slacker, played by James McAvoy, into a society of assassins. Morgan Freeman plays the group's leader. The movie has taken in $91 million since its June 27 release.

Warner Bros.' ``Get Smart'' dropped to fourth from third with sales of $11.1 million over the extended holiday. Based on the 1960s television show, the movie follows the misadventures of secret agent Maxwell Smart, played by Steve Carell, and his brighter colleague Agent 99, played by Anne Hathaway. The film has garnered $98.1 million since its June 20 release.

``Kung Fu Panda,'' the animated comedy with the voice of Jack Black, fell to fifth from fourth with sales of $7.5 million. The film, produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. and distributed by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount, has taken in $193.4 million in five weeks of release.

`Incredible Hulk'

Rounding out the top 10 in sixth through 10th places, respectively, were: Marvel Entertainment Inc.'s ``The Incredible Hulk,'' with $4.98 million; ``Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,'' from Viacom's Paramount at $3.94 million; ``Kit Kittredge''; Warner Bros' ``Sex and the City: The Movie,'' at $2.35 million; and ``You Don't Mess with the Zohan,'' from Sony, with $2 million.

Receipts for the top 12 movies fell 4.1 percent to $158.7 million from the year-earlier period, Encino, California-based Media By Numbers said. For the year, box-office sales are down less than 1 percent to $4.82 billion. Attendance is down 3.4 percent from a year earlier.

The following table has figures provided by studios to Media By Numbers. The amounts are based on gross ticket sales from July 4, yesterday and estimates for today.

Movie                Rev.   Theaters  Wks   Avg./    Pct.  Total
                    (mln)                  Theater   Chg.  (mln)

1.  Hancock          $66.0   3,965     1      --      --  $107.3
2.  Wall-E            33.4   3,992     2    $8,371   -47   128.1
3.  Wanted            20.6   3,185     2     6,470   -60    90.8
4.  Get Smart         11.1   3,574     3     3,113   -45    98.1
5.  Kung Fu Panda      7.5   3,347     5     2,241   -36   193.4
6.  Hulk               4.9   3,043     4     1,635   -48   124.9
7.  Crystal Skull      3.9   2,192     7     1,797   -24   306.6
8.  Kit Kittredge      3.6   1,843     1     1,954    --    6.13
9.  Sex and the City   2.3   1,275     6     1,839   -38   144.9
10. Zohan              2.0   1,731     5     1,155   -37    94.8

To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net; Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 6, 2008 15:50 EDT