Sony's "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" started its domestic run at the boxoffice this weekend with something less than the pedal to the metal as the broadly marketed sequel pulled in an estimated $38 million.

It was far from a heavenly debut and viewed largely as a disappointment as it was on the low side of where pre-release tracking indicated it would land.

Universal's "The Hulk" took a huge 70% drop on its sophomore frame, taking in an estimated $18.4 million and placing second. The Ang Lee-directed picture nevertheless has crossed the $100 million mark in 10 days, the 10th release this year to do so, as its cume reached an estimated $102 million.

But Buena Vista's "Finding Nemo" seems to keep finding more business as the Pixar film netted an estimated $13.9 million in its fifth weekend to take third, slipping 34% -- the second best hold in the top 10. The cume to date is an estimated $253.9 million, topping "Toy Story 2" ($245.8 million) and with the expectation that it will surpass "Monsters, Inc." ($255.9 million) in the next few days to become the highest grossing Pixar film ever.

The McG helmed sequel, starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, failed to match the opening of the first "Charlie's Angels," which debuted with $40.1 million, and went on to a domestic gross of $125.3 million. Most industry observers expected the film to open better than the original, as has been the case for many high-profile sequels of late.

The international marketplace seemed to be a bright spot for "Angels" this weekend as the film opened day-and-date in 11 markets and grossed an estimated $13.2 million, beating the debut of the first "Angels" film in many of those markets by a wide margin.

Fox Searchlight's "28 Days Later" had a stellar opening in fourth as the sci-fi horror film from director Danny Boyle, about a virus that turns most of the world's population into raging zombies, debuted in 1,260 theaters and grossed an estimated $9.7 million. Pre-release tracking had the film in the $4 million-to-$5 million area.

The film in the top 10 that had the best hold was Paramount's "The Italian Job," which slipped 25% as it grossed an estimated $5.4 million to place seventh, moving its cume to roughly $76.7 million.

But generally speaking, business across the board was down -- this weekend was the third consecutive down session at the boxoffice in North America. Several distribution executives cited nice weather -- for the first time in weeks -- in the East and North as being the culprit.

Executives at Sony were cautiously upbeat about the opening of "Angels," pointing towards strong international totals and worldwide grosses. "No, we're not disappointed, and I think we're on track to beat the worldwide total of the original film," said Jeff Blake, vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. "Our goal was always to be as good or better than the first one. I think we're certainly close in the U.S. and our day-and-date international openings are way ahead. In Japan the opening was double the first film."

Leonard Goldberg, who produced "Angels" along with Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvoven, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter from Paris, where the Angels are promoting the film. "It's nice to be No. 1, and it's nice to have over a third of the market, but I wish the market were bigger," he said, in reference to the lower overall business in North America this weekend. "But we're happy and it's a good start."

"Angels" found its target audience of females, according to Blake, as 60% of moviegoers checked that box, while overall, 52% were less than 25 years of age. "Charlie's "Angels" is a unique franchise, it's mainly a female driven film that really will not open at the level of some of the comic book franchises," Blake said.

Regarding the steep drop for "Hulk," Nikki Rocco, president of Universal Pictures distribution, said, "Obviously we're very disappointed by the drop, but still, $100 million in 10 days is extraordinarily successful. We're very proud of the film and we hope that with all of the ancillaries, in particular international, the picture continues to be successful."

Executives at Fox Searchlight were understandably upbeat about the debut of "28 Days Later." "It's a huge success and far above what we were expecting," said Steve Gilula, president of distribution for Fox Searchlight.

All of this weekend's films will be facing stiff competition this coming July 4th weekend when Warner Bros. Pictures' "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," MGM's "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde," and DreamWorks' animated "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" debut.

A spokesperson for Warner Bros. announced that "T3" would have Tuesday previews in 2,500 theaters, starting at 8 p.m., prior to its full release in more than 3,500 theaters on Wednesday.

In the world of limited releases Miramax's "Jet Lag" added 15 theaters, bringing the total to 18, and grossed an estimated $81,000 in its third weekend, for a per-theater average of $4,500, upping the total to $114,291. Newmarket Films' "Whalerider" was in 163 venues, 85 more than a week ago, and took home an estimated $1 million, averaging $6,135 per theater and taking its cume to $2.3 million.

The estimated total for the top 12 films this weekend was $111.3 million, down 15% from the comparable session last year. The Hollywood Reporter projects the total for all films this weekend to be in the high $110 million-to-low $120 million range, down from last year's $142.4 million.

The national boxoffice for the week ending June 26 was down 13% from the comparable seven days a year ago ($223.6 million vs. $256.8 million), while the year-to-date total is off by nearly 4% ($4.26 billion vs. $4.43 billion). Estimated admissions for the year-to-date are lagging last year's pace by 9%.