Bryan Singer’s Jack The Giant Slayer is the first mega-budget movie of 2013, but if Hollywood was hoping it would break the box office bank and point to a bumper year ahead, they’ll be disappointed. The film took $28.1 million in its first weekend in US cinemas, which isn’t a complete disaster, but considering the movie cost nearly $200 million to make, it’s now going to have to rely on becoming a major success outside North America if it hopes to make its money back.
For comparison, the similarly budgeted John Carter took $30 million last March and ended up a financial disaster for Disney.
There were two more new entries in the US top 10, although neither of them covered themselves in glory. 21 And Over, the directorial debut of Hangover writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, took $9 million to place third on the chart. That’s less than half what the similarly pitched Project X took last year.
At number 4 is The Last Exorcism Part II, taking $8 million in its first three days. Considering the first film opened with $20 million, it’s a bit of a failure (but at least it was cheap to make).
While it was a rough weekend at the box office, with the overall gross down 38% on last year, at least there were a couple bright spots, with Identity Thief passing the $100 million mark in the US while, thanks to China, The Hobbit made it to $1 billion worldwide.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of March 1st-3rd.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Jack The Giant Slayer | $28.0 | $28.0 |
| 2 | Identity Thief | $9.7 | $107.4 |
| 3 | 21 And Over | $9.0 | $9.0 |
| 4 | The Last Exorcism Part II | $8.0 | $8.0 |
| 5 | Snitch | $7.7 | $24.4 |
| 6 | Escape From Planet Earth | $6.7 | $43.2 |
| 7 | Safe Haven | $6.3 | $57.0 |
| 8 | Silver Linings Playbook | $5.9 | $115.5 |
| 9 | A Good Day To Die Hard | $4.5 | $49.6 |
| 10 | Dark Skies | $3.5 | $13.4 |
Despite the box office usually being fairly open over the Oscar weekend, it was a particularly bad time for new movies, as the Dwayne Johnson action flick Snitch just missed out on the top spot, taking $13 million to place second. That allowed Identity Thief to return to the top, adding another $14 million, to take its total so far in American to $93 million.
From the producers of Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and Sinister comes Dark Skies: a supernatural thriller that follows a young family living in the suburbs. As husband and wife Daniel and Lacey Barret (Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton) witness an escalating series of disturbing events involving their family, their safe and peaceful home quickly unravels. When it becomes clear that the Barret family is being targeted by an unimaginably terrifying and deadly force, Daniel and Lacey take matters in their own hands to solve the mystery of what is after their family.’
It’s heroes vs. villains in this new GI Joe: Retaliation poster. Channing Tatum (Duke) Bruce Willis (Joe Colton), Dwayne Johnson (Roadblock), Adrianne Palicki (Lady Jaye), and Ray Park (Snake Eyes) represent the good guys, with Ray Stevenson (Firefly), Byung-hun Lee (Storm Shadow), and Elodie Yung (Jinx) on the baddies side. The 3D movie hits cinemas in March.
R (Nicholas Hoult) is a zombie. After a zombie apocalypse, he shambles across an America filled with collapsed buildings, rusted cars, shattered windows, and abandoned high-rises. He can only grunt or moan and craves human brains to get high on their memories. After eating the brains of a suicidal teen, R is overcome with love for the teen’s companion, Julie Grigio (Palmer). R rescues Julie from his zombie pack and takes her back to his lair. She eventually leaves, and R follows her back to Citi Stadium, the largest remaining human refuge. It hits cinemas February 8th.
Steven Sobderbergh lines another star-filled thriller, this one with Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Side Effects is about a woman (Mara) who turns to prescription medication to deal with her anxiety over her husband’s (Tatum) release from prison. She begins to take a new brand of anti-depressant, prescribed by a doctor (Jude Law), who seems to have more than a professional interest in her. Before long, everything spirals badly out of control, when it appears a murder has been committed. The film is set for release in the UK on March 15th, 2013