Michael Bay has proved he can still pull in the punters away from massive robots, as his Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg starrer, Pain And Gain, topped the US box office with $20 million in its first weekend. Although that’s a lot less than Bay’s Transformers movies opened to, that’s only to be expected from an R-rated thriller with a dash of comedy. And as it only cost $26 million to make, it’s likely headed for a healthy profit.
There was less cheer for The Big Wedding, which opened to a rather meagre $7.5 million, despite a cast including Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Robin Williams and Amanda Seyfried. While Hollywood still seems to think wedding comedies are a surefire winner, Big Wedding has followed a trend of diminishing returns for this seemingly never-ending subgenre.
Those were the only new movies in the top 10, as the Matthew McConaughey drama Mud landed at number 11 on its opening in limited release. However the really big news took place outside the US, where the international opening of Iron Man 3 took a truly massive $195 million.
The film opened in 79% of territories outside North America, and if Disney had any worries about the poster-Avengers Marvel world, they’ll have been laid to rest. $195 million is $10 million ahead of what Avengers took in those territories in its first three days. It had the biggest opening ever in Argentina, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore It’s one of the biggest international opening ever and certainly suggests the film is going to be one of this year’s biggest hitters
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of April 26th-28th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Pain And Gain | $20.0 | $20.0 |
| 2 | Oblivion | $17.4 | $64.7 |
| 3 | 42 | $10.7 | $69.0 |
| 4 | The Big Wedding | $7.5 | $7.5 |
| 5 | The Croods | $6.6 | $163.0 |
| 6 | GI Joe: Retaliation | $3.6 | $116.3 |
| 7 | Scary Movie 5 | $3.4 | $27.4 |
| 8 | Olympus Has Fallen | $2.7 | $93.0 |
| 9 | The Place Beyond The Pines | $2.6 | $16.2 |
| 10 | Jurassic Park 3D | $2.3 | $42.0 |
In the last few years it’s felt like Tom Cruise’s ‘king of the A-list’ crown has started to wobble, with audiences only really seeming to want to see him in Mission: Impossible movies. However it appears they don’t mind him in a bit of sci-fi either, as Oblivion has opened to a pretty good $38 million, Cruise’s highest non Mission: Impossible debut since War Of The Worlds (and his fifth highest ever).
It’s rare that two movies are released in the same week in the US and box office watchers seem to have no idea how well either of them will do, or which would end up at the top of the box office (if either). However that was true of 42 and Scary Movie 5, with wildly differing estimates of how well they’d do in their run up to release, with some even suggesting both would end behind The Croods in their first weekend.
While some still think the idea of remaking Evil Dead is sacrilege, US audiences have shown that they’re pretty happy about is, as the film has topped the box office with $26 million in its opening weekend. It’s a pretty good but not astounding start, although reports of a middling response from audiences may mean it’ll drop quickly down the charts.
Many thought that after the first GI Joe film failed to set the box office alight, that would be the last we’d see of it on the big screen, but the franchise has returned with GI Joe: Retaliation. The movie may have opened lower than its predecessor, taking $54 million versus $41 million in its opening weekend (although Retaliation can add another $10 million from Thursday), but it’s more than many had thought.
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