The fourth film in the "Fast & Furious" franchise took the box office over the week, landing at the top spot with over $70 million worth of tickets sold.

The film, which reunites the original cast members of its very first movie (Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster), reportedly earned $72.5 million in its first three days, demolishing last week's record holder "Monsters vs. Aliens" for the best opening week of the year.

The first two films from the Universal Studios-helmed franchise also fare well their opening weeks -- the first opened to $40.1 million in 2000, and then $50.5 million in 2003. This new installment has already earned more than the previous installment, 2006's "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," which opened with $24 million and ended up making $62.5 million.

According to Reuters, the highly anticipated reunion of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker -- who resurrect their roles as old foes who team up to confront a common enemy -- cost about $85 million to make, so they're sure to make that back by next weekend.

"We knew there was a great buzz from the get-go," Nikki Rocco, president of domestic distribution at Universal, said. "The marketing plan was spot-on about how exciting this rendition was."

Coming in right behind "Fast & Furious" was last week's box office winner, "Monsters vs. Aliens." The film slipped to #2 with $33.5 million in its second weekend, bringing its two-week total to $105.7 million for the cartoon.

In at #3 was Liongate's ghost story, "The Haunting in Connecticut," which scared up $9.6 million, taking its 10-day total to $37.2 million. Then, right behind it was Nicholas Cage's "Knowing," taking in another $8.1 million to put it at #4, while "I Love You, Man" took it $7.8 to grab the #5 spot.

Other new releases this week didn't do as well as "F&F". The R-rated comedy "Adventureland" tanked, pulling in just $6 million over the weekend. It had low expectations, and delivered.

Rounding out the top 10 were "Duplicity" at #7 with $4.3 million; "Race To Witch Mountain" at #8 with $3.4 million; "12 Rounds" at #9 with $2.3 million; and "Sunshine Cleaning" at #10 with $1.9 million.

According to the Associated Press, this weekend brought in $160 million, up 68% from the same period last year.

For the year, domestic revenues are running at a record pace of $2.57 billion, up 14.5 percent from 2008's. Factoring in 2009's higher ticket prices, movie attendance is running 12.8 percent ahead of last year's.