Despite some truly atrocious reviews, audiences’ love of John McLane won out over the weekend, with the movie topping the US box office with $25 million from Friday to Sunday and $33 million since it was released last Thursday.

Although not a great start, it’s not too far behind Die Hard 4′s $38 million four-day total. However, it’s not likely to get great word of mouth, so it may find it difficult to sustain its box office power over the coming weeks.

As it’s Presidents Day weekend, Die Hard 5 was just one of a slew of titles hitting cinemas. Safe Haven placed third with a decent $21 million (and $30 million since its Thursday opening), which is about on par with The Lucky One, but well behind Dear John’s first weekend.

While indie animation doesn’t usually do that well, Escape From Planet Earth took a pretty good $16 million, no doubt helped by the holiday weekend and the fact that for the last couple of months US cinemas have been full of R-rated entertainment.

While Warner Bros might have hoped Beautiful Creatures would be the new Twilight, it certainly won’t be, as the film placed sixth on the chart and took just $7 million over the weekend. It’s safe to say we’re unlikely to get the sequels Warner were hoping to make.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of February 15th-17th.

The Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman grossout comedy Identity Thief may have been faced with some vitriolic reviews, but US audiences obviously didn’t care as the film significantly outperformed expectations, taking $36.5 million in its first three days in cinemas. It’s one of the best starts ever for an R-rated comedy, suggesting the film should have strong legs over the coming weeks.

The only other new entry in the top 10 was Steven Soderbergh’s pharmaceutical thriller Side Effects, which took $10 million over the weekend. It’s not a disaster but not a great start for a film with a cast including Channing Tatum, Jude Law, Rooney Mara and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It certainly suggests diminishing returns for Soderbergh’s brand of ensemble thriller, as it’s less than half of what Contagion took in 2011.

Top Gun 3D returned to cinemas but placed just outside the top 10. However it was only showing on 300 screens, so did pretty well to make $1.9 million (it’s per screen average was double that of Side Effects).

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of February 8th-10th.

Nobody seemed sure quite how well Warm Bodies would do at the US box office, but it turns out audiences were up for some zombie fun over the Superbowl weekend, as the Nicholas Hoult starring movie took $20 million in its first weekend to top the chart. It’s considered a pretty good opening for a relatively cheap movie that could easily have been ignored.

The only other new movie in the top 10 was Bullet To The Head, which placed sixith with $4.5 million. It’s not been a good few weeks for 80s action stars, as Arnie’s comeback, The Last Stand, failed to hit is big, and now Sylvester Stallone is having the same trouble with his new movie. It’s been noted that it’s the star’s worst opening since 1981′s Nighthawks, and even that movie had a higher attendance.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of February 1st-3rd.

The Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton starrer, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, has topped the US box office on its first weekend of release, taking $19 million. While it came in number one, many are still seeing the grown-up fairytale as an underperformer, as most had expected an opening in the $20 million range.

The other new openers did much worse though. The Jason Statham starrer Parker placed fifth with $7 million, which isn’t amazing but is about on par with most of the actor’s recent US opening (barring The Expendables movies).

And despite its incredibly starry cast, the anthology comedy Movie 43 tanked with just $5 million to place seventh. It also been receiving atrocious word of mouth, so it’s unlikely this going to be a sleeper.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of January 25th-27th.

While many had tipped Zero Dark Thirty to top the US box office again, the Guillermo Del Toro produced horror, Mama, outpaced expectations to easily win the the weekend with $28.1 million in its first three days. Some had even predicted disaster for Mama, but in the end it gave Jessica Chastain a double whammy, as she stars in both the number one and two movies, Mama and Zero Dark Thirty.

Despite the presence of Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta Jones, Broken City could only make it to 5th spot with $9.0 million, far less than the makers would have hoped, even if January has become a bit of a dumping ground for studio product that they don’t have much hope for.

The final new entry was also the biggest disappointment. Many had high hopes for Arnie’s return to leading action man status, The Last Stand, but in the end it could only gross $6.3 and place tenth on the chart on its opening weekend. It’ll certainly be a disappointment for Schwarzenegger, who was hoping to come back with a bang.

However the biggest winner this weekend was Silver Linings Playbook, which thanks to its Oscar nomination added 1,700 screens and rose up to third place on the chart. It had its biggest weekend yet of $11.3 million on its tenth week of release.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of January 18th-20th.

In its first week of wide release, Zero Dark Thirty has topped the US Box Office chart, taking $24 million as it expanded onto over 2,800 screens from just over a hundred. Its success came as a surprise to many, who’d expected Gangster Squad to top the chart.

In the end the gangster noir placed third with $16.7 million, which isn’t a bad start, but probably not what Warner was hoping for its star studded movie, which has had a lot of buzz ever since the screenplay first started doing the rounds in Hollywood.

Proving spoof horror can still find an audience, the Marlon Wayans starring A Haunted House placed second on the chart with $18.8 million.

Those were the only new entries on the chart, but a couple films got a bump from the Oscar nominations, with Lincoln rising 16% from the previous weekend to take its US takings across the $150 million mark. Silver Linings Playbook also got a 38% bump to return to the top 10, thanks to its eight Oscar nominations.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of January 11th-13th.