G.I. Joe Sequel Rocks The US Box Office

The reviews – for good reason – have not been kind to the G.I. Joe sequel, Retaliation, but clearly The Rock can hold on to his title as “franchise Viagra” for a while longer as the film stormed cinemas and made off with a grand total of $51.7 million at the US box office after an early release. For the three-day weekend, the movie took in $41.2 million.

DreamWorks’ latest ‘toon The Croods was pushed from the top, but only dropped slightly into second, earning $26.5 million. Tyler Perry’s latest writing/directing effort, Temptation, arrived in third place with $22.3 million, while Olympus Has Fallen fell to fourth with $14 million. Rounding out the top five, Oz The Great And Powerful added $11.6 million this weekend, for a current running total of $198.2 million.

Despite boasting the Stephenie Meyer name, The Host lacked the drawing power of Bella, Edward and the rest of Team Twilight, and the alien romance saga stalled badly, launching in sixth place with a disappointing $11 million. Halle Berry thriller The Call was seventh with $4.8 million, while Tina Fey/Paul Rudd comedy Admission slipped to eighth and $3.2 million. Ninth was Spring Breakers ($2.7 million) and preparing to leave the top 10 was The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which made $1.3 million.