Jim Carrey voices the role of the immortal Horton, the elephant who knows that a person is a person, no matter how small. Here, Horton protects the tiny creatures he overhears in a speck of dust. - Contributed

LOS ANGELES (AP):

Audiences are still listening to Horton and his Who pals. Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who, 20th Century Fox's animated adaptation of the beloved children's book, remained the top movie for a second straight weekend with $25.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Featuring the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, the movie raised its 10-day total to $85.5 million.

Horton fended off a rush of new movies opening over Easter weekend.

Lionsgate's Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns, about a single mom who connects with previously unknown kin at her late father's funeral, opened in second place with $20 million.

It was the latest success for writer-director and co-star Perry, whose past hits for Lionsgate include Madea's Family Reunion and Why Did I Get Married? Shot on modest budgets, Perry's movies play to a built-in fan base.

Make money

"You kind of know what you're going to get with Tyler Perry, and that's a good thing," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "You want to be in business with this guy because he's going to make you money every time."

Shutter, 20th Century Fox's fright flick about a newlywed couple tormented by a spirit whose image appears in their photos, opened at number three with $10.7 million.

Just behind it at number four was Owen Wilson's comedy Drillbit Taylor, which pulled in $10.2 million. The Paramount release stars Wilson as a laid-back homeless guy who signs on as bodyguard for three bullied teenage nerds.

The acclaimed Under the Same Moon, a border tale about a Mexican boy trying to reunite with his mother in the United States, was number 10 with $2.6 million, a record opening weekend for a Spanish-language film. Released by Fox Searchlight and the Weinstein Co, the movie has taken in $3.3 million since opening Wednesday and also took in $1.7 million in Mexico, where it debuted this weekend.

Under the Same Moon surpassed the previous Spanish-language record set by 'Ladrón Que Roba a Ladrón', which opened with $1.6 million last Labour Day weekend.

Both movies opened in far more theatres - Under the Same Moon at 266, 'Ladrón' at 340 - than typical Spanish-language films, which generally debut in a handful of cinemas before gradually expanding to wider release if they click with movie-goers.

commercial movie

"We thought this was a movie that could play as a commercial movie, not as an arthouse movie, to Spanish-language audiences," said Peter Rice, Fox Searchlight president.

The movie started mainly in theatres catering to Spanish speakers. But it also enjoyed strong word-of-mouth publicity in cinemas dominated by English-language crowds, where business picked up strongly over the course of the weekend, said Weinstein Co. co-founder Harvey Weinstein, who had found success with foreign-language films such as Cinema Paradiso and Amelie when he ran Miramax.

Fox Searchlight and the Weinstein Co. plan to gradually roll out Under the Same Moon to more theatres in the coming weeks.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres will be released Monday.