Proving that people are still in love with Steven Spielberg’s style of cinema, J.J. Abrams’ extraterrestrial flick, Super 8, battled the mutants of X-men: First Class and took the first place spot at the US box office this weekend.
Super 8–set in the 70′s, the story that follows several young film makers and their experience with a certain “monster” which terrorizes the town–received rave reviews this past weekend. Those who saw the film said it was beyond amazing, suspenseful, and exciting. Others said it was just Abrams making a Steven Speilberg film that didn’t quite hit the mark. Whatever anyone else thought, the film raked in an impressive $37 million domestically during its first weekend, surpassing the studio’s projection of $25-$30 million. Come on guys! This has Spielberg written all over it! $25 millions is a bit low. Looks like teaming up with Twitter for an early Thursday released proved to be gold.
While X-men: First Class fell to the second spot, it had better legs than it’s predecessors; looks like word of mouth helped the film stay afloat. The bad-ass mutant prequel pulled in $25 million this weekend making rounding out its domestic total to $98 million.
And two films passed the $200 million mark: The Hangover 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
In third place was the drunken guys of The Hangover 2. The comedy sequel added another $18.5 million rounding out their domestic total to $216.5 million. Looks like the comedy genre is holding its own this summer.
Before we get to the Pirates, recognition must go out the panda in Kung Fu Panda 2. The panda and his friends fell to the fourth spot; being the only kids film on the block never hurt anyone. The film was only $2 million away from finally topping The Hangover 2, but didn’t quite make it. We can always hope for next weekend, right? Kung Fu Panda 2 earned $16.6 million this weekend bringing its domestic total to $126 million.
Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides sailed over into the $200 million waters this weekend. The film earned $10.8 million rounding out to $208 million domestically. Thanks to Box Office Mojo here’s your top 10:
Box Office Top Ten: June 10th-13th
1. Super 8 $37 million
2. X-Men: First Class $25 million
3. The Hangover Part II $18.5 million
4. Kung Fu Panda 2 $16.6 million
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides $10.8 million
6. Bridesmaids $10.2 million
7. Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer $6.3 million
8. Midnight in Paris $6.1 million
9. Thor $2.4 million
10. Fast Five $1.7 million
