LOS ANGELES ~ The giant robots of Transformers emerged on top in their weekend box office battle with the prehistoric stars of Ice Age: Return of the Dinosaurs, final figures showed.

The hugely successful Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen finished its second week in first place with US$42.3 million, boosting its overall earnings to $293.4 million in only two weeks of release.

The kid-friendly Ice Age, featuring the voices of Queen Latifah and Dennis Leary as prehistoric animals who discover a lost jungle inhabited by dinosaurs, took $41.7 million in box office receipts over the three-day Independence Day weekend.

In third place was new release Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp as notorious US gangster John Dillinger, which pulled in $25.3 million in its first week.

Meanwhile, fourth place went to The Proposal, a romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock as a pushy boss who marries her assistant for a US visa.

The light-hearted romp continued to draw audiences, taking in $12.8 million in its third week in theatres.

The Hangover, a raucous comedy about the fallout from a Las Vegas bachelor party, came in fifth place with $11.3 million in this week, bringing its four-week total to $205 million – a massive gain on its $35-million budget.

Pixar’s latest animated feature Up, which tells the heart-warming story of a grumpy old man who finds adventure in Latin America, stayed strong into its sixth week in theatres for sixth place.

The hugely successful movie added another $6.5 million, increasing its earnings to $264.8 million.

In its second week in theatres My Sister’s Keeper, starring Cameron Diaz, slipped down in the rankings with box office receipts of $5.8 million, claiming the seventh spot.

The Taking of Pelham 123, a remake of a classic 1974 movie about a subway hijacking, also fell one spot to eighth place, bringing in $2.5 million in its fourth week in theatres.

Rounding out the top 10 were Year One, a comedy about prehistoric hunter-gatherers, in the ninth spot, earning $2.3 million; and Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian for 10th.

The sequel to 2006’s Night at the Museum, which stars Ben Stiller and Amy Adams, earned $2 million, bringing its seven-week earnings to $167.7 million.