There’s been a fair amount of uncertainty about how well The Great Gatsby would do, with some wondering whether there was room for it in the usually action-heavy summer release schedule. However it’s done far better than many expected, taking $51 million in its first weekend at the US box office.
It’s particularly good news for Baz Luhrman, as his previous highest grossing movie in North America was Moulin Rouge!, which took $57 million. The Great Gatsby should pass that in the next couple of days.
Even with Gatsby’s great start, it couldn’t beat Iron Man 3, which took $72.5 million in it second weekend.
The only other new entry in the top 10 was Tyler Perry Presents Peeples, which took $4.3 million. It’s one of the worst starts of the year for a film opening on more that 2,000 screens.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of May 10th-12th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Iron Man 3 | $72.4 | $284,8 |
| 2 | The Great Gatsby | $51.1 | $51.1 |
| 3 | Pain And Gain | $5.0 | $41.6 |
| 4 | Tyler Perry Presents Peeples | $4.8 | $4.8 |
| 5 | 42 | $4.6 | $84.7 |
| 6 | Oblivion | $3.8 | $81.6 |
| 7 | The Croods | $3.6 | $173.2 |
| 8 | The Big Wedding | $2.5 | $18.2 |
| 9 | Mud | $2.3 | $8.3 |
| 10 | Oz the Great And Powerful | $0.8 | $229.9 |
The money men at Disney/Marvel will be rubbing their hands in glee this morning, as if they were worried about the hundreds of millions they’ve already poured into the post-Avengers movies, Iron Man 3 has resolutely proved audiences are keen to continue watching the superhero adventures.
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.
After DreamWorks Animation was forced to make tonnes of redundancies last month following the failure of Rise Of The Guardians, they’ll have a bit of cheer this morning with the news that The Croods has topped the US box office with $44 million. It’s a decent start, which is about on par with the studio’s Megamind and How To Train Your Dragon.
Oz The Great And Powerful has stayed top of the US box office, adding another $42.2 million. Disney will be pleased as while major movies often drop more than 50% of their take in their second weekend, Oz eased off by just 46%.
The question this weekend wasn’t whether Oz The Great And Powerful would top the US box office, but how much it would take. While expectations meant that anything under $80 million would have been seen as a disappointment, if the final figures hold up, Oz just scraped in with $80.2 million.
