In its third week of release, Ben Affleck's "Argo" topped a soft weekend box office with $12.3 million as Tom Hanks' sci-fi epic "Cloud Atlas" stayed earthbound in its debut.
"Cloud Atlas” is the first film from Andy and Lana Wachowski — the team behind "The Matrix" — in four years and is among the most expensive independent movies ever. It took in an estimated $9.5 million from 2,008 screens and is in a battle for No. 2, with Sony's "Hotel Transylvania."
It was another strong hold for the animated kids film, which in its fifth week dropped just 27 percent from last week and raised its overall domestic gross to $130 million, best ever for a Sony Pictures Animation film.