‘Ring 2’ debuts as No. 1 film

Naomi Watts ran rings around the competition as her horror sequel “The Ring 2” took in $35 million to top the weekend box office.

That was more than double the $15 million that the first “Ring” grossed in its 2002 opening.

“Robots,” the previous weekend’s No. 1 movie, slipped to second place with $21 million, lifting its 10-day total to $66.9 million.

Disney’s family hit “The Pacifier” held up well in third place with $12.5 million, pushing its three-week total to $72.3 million.

But with those two child-friendly flicks remaining strong draws, Disney’s new family movie “Ice Princess” had a tough time finding a toehold.

“Ice Princess,” starring Michelle Trachtenberg as a science geek who abandons the physics classroom to pursue a dream as a figure skater, premiered at No. 4 with $6.8 million.

“The Ring 2” offers Watts returning to her role as a journalist and single mom trying to save herself and her son from the curse of a killer videotape whose viewers die horrible deaths within a week.

The original, based on a Japanese hit, became a word-of-mouth surprise success, holding strong as it steadily climbed to a $129 million total domestic gross. The sequel is expected to mirror the pattern of other horror hits, which open big but take steep drops.

“Obviously, we would hope to get that $100 million club, but we don’t do any of those projections this early in the game,” said Jim Tharp, head of distribution for DreamWorks.