Dr. Seuss movie "The Lorax" stayed firmly planted at No. 1 on box office charts over the weekend, easily trumping the debut of Walt Disney's expensive sci-fi flick "John Carter."<br/> <br />"The Lorax," an environmental tale about a fuzzy orange creature that guards the trees, held strong in its second weekend, with 39 million dollars in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales.<br/> <br />"John Carter" meanwhile, opened in second place with 30.6 million, a low number for a hoped-for blockbuster.<br/> <br />While the 3D space adventure grossed more than double that amount overseas, Disney is left with a big hole to fill just to break even on the mega-budget movie. The film cost an estimated 250 million to produce, plus tens of millions more to market.<br/> <br />"John Carter" is based on a century-old book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan. It tells the story of an ex-military captain who is transported to Mars and tries to end the planet's civil war.<br/> <br />Comedy "Project X," about three high-school kids who plan a party that spins out of control, pulled together 11.6 million domestically. That landed the movie in third place during its second weekend in theaters.<br/> <br />The horror flick "Silent House" had a quiet debut, pulling in 7.0 million and taking fourth place. The movie stars Elizabeth Olsen as a young woman trapped inside a lakeside house and unable to contact the outside world.<br/> <br />John Russell, Reuters.
