When "Judgment Day" finally arrived for Arnold Schwarzenegger's resuscitated "Terminator" franchise, moviegoers managed to place "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" atop the box-office heap, though its opening numbers fell short of most industry projections.

The first "Terminator" flick in 12 years, "T3" took in $44 million over the weekend and $72.5 million since opening on Wednesday, according to studio estimates, enough to make it the second-best opening for an R-rated flick ever (behind "The Matrix Reloaded"'s $91.2 million), though it fell far behind the totals of other five-day heavyweights like "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" ($105.6 million), "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" ($102 million) and "Independence Day" ($96.1 million). With a production cost estimated at more than $170 million ($30 million of which reportedly went to Arnie), "T3" still has a way to go before it makes a profit. (Click to see "T3" photos.)

Meanwhile, Reese Witherspoon's own sequel, "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde," slid in behind "T3" with $22.9 million over the weekend, for a five-day $39.1 million total. (Click to see photos from the "Legally Blonde 2" premiere.)Brad Pitt's animated "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," the only other new widely released picture, took in $10 million over the extended holiday weekend.

Last weekend's #1 film, "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," fell to #3 with $14.2 million for a two-week $67.2 million total. The rest of the weekend's top 10 includes "Finding Nemo" at #4 with $11 million ($264.9 million, six weeks); "The Hulk" at #5 with $8.2 million ($117 million, three weeks); "28 Days Later" at #7 with $6 million ($20.6 million, two weeks); "The Italian Job" at #8 with $4.2 million ($84 million, six weeks); "Bruce Almighty" at #9 with $4 million ($228.7 million, seven weeks); and "2 Fast 2 Furious" at #10 with $2.4 million ($119.3 million, five weeks).