“The Ring Two,” may have scared off critics with 26% on the Tomatometer, but audiences still flocked to see the sequel to one of the most popular horror films in recent years. It topped the charts with an estimated $36M this weekend. That’s more than twice of what the original made – “The Ring” debuted in 2002 with $15M. “The Ring Two” made about $15M on Friday alone.

If estimates hold, the 36M debut of “The Ring Two” will get the record for 3rd best March debut of all time, behind “Robots” and “Ice Age.” Since “Robots” only debuted with a little over $36M last weekend, “The Ring Two” has a great shot of beating it for 2nd best.

“Ice Princess,” the other wide release that debuted this weekend, only managed to charm an estimated $7M worth of business, placing 4th. Critics were mixed about ice-skating family comedy starring Michelle Trachtenberg. They gave the likable Disney film points for effort, but thought it lacked originality. It recorded a 55% on the Tomatometer.

Last weekend’s top money-maker “Robots” dropped to 2nd place with an estimated $21.8M, a 39% drop-off from the previous weekend. It’s total after two weeks of release is $66.9M.

In 3rd place is “The Pacifier” with $12.5M, holding steady with only a 31% drop-off. It’s total after three weeks is $72.3M.

“Hitch” came in 5th with $6.6M and $159.4M total.

Rounding out the rest of the top 12 are “Be Cool” in 6th with $5.8M ($47.2M total), “Hostage” in 7th with $5.8M ($19.3M total), “Million Dollar Baby” in 8th with $4M ($90M total), “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” in 9th with $3.5M ($47.8M total), “Constantine” in 10th with $2.3M ($70.4M total), “The Upside of Anger” in 11th with $1.9M (2.2M total), and “Man of the House” in 12th with $0.98M ($18.1M total).

The total gross for the top 12 films this weekend saw just about a half percent increase over the same weekend last year when “Dawn of the Dead” took 1st place with $26.7M. Compared to last weekend, it’s about 5% higher.

Click here the detailed chart.

(Updated 3/21/2005)