''Ocean's Twelve'' has a better opening than ''Eleven''

That new 12th person in Ocean’s Twelve? Looks like she was worth an extra $3 million at the box office. The highly-anticipated sequel, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, and new addition Catherine Zeta-Jones, grossed a strong $40.9 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates. That’s a bit higher than the $38.1 million Ocean’s Eleven earned in its first three days in 2001.

The weekend’s other new wide release, Blade: Trinity, didn’t fare so well, premiering with $16.1 million, and $24.5 million since opening last Wednesday. By contrast, Blade 2 opened with $32.5 million a few years ago.

After three weeks in the top spot, National Treasure slipped to third place, dropping 41 percent to $10 million and bringing its total to an impressive $124.2 million. Meanwhile, The Polar Express continued its pre-Christmas run, falling only 9 percent to $9.8 million. And Christmas With the Kranks rounded out the top five with $7.6 million. That’ll buy Tim Allen’s character a whole bunch of botox.