Online leak or no, X-Men Origins: Wolverine slashed its competition at the North American box office with a remarkable $87 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Released by 20th Century Fox, the Gavin Hood-directed action spectacle scored an average of $21,225 per theater at 4,099 locations.
Starring Hugh Jackman in the title role, the film follows Wolverine as he seeks revenge against the evil-minded Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber) and William Stryker (Danny Huston). Also in the cast are Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Kitsch.
Debuting in second place with $15.3 million was Mark Waters' latest romantic comedy, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, which stars Matthew McConaughey as a celeb photographer who's visited by three ghosts during the weekend of his brother's wedding. Jennifer Garner co-stars.
Last week's box-office champion, Obsessed, slipped to No. 3, pulling $12.2 million and reaching a domestic total of $47 million after two weeks in release. The thriller directed by Steve Shill stars Idris Elba, Ali Larter and Beyoncé Knowles.
Meanwhile, Zac Efron's latest comedy, 17 Again, earned $6.3 million at No. 4, bringing its cumulative gross to $48.4 million after a three-week run.
At No. 5, Monsters vs. Aliens collected another $5.8 million, reaching a total haul of $182.4 million. Following closely in sixth place with $5.6 million was The Soloist, starring Robert Downey Jr. (above) and Jamie Foxx, which lifted its cume to a disappointing $18.1 million.
Disneynature's Earth dropped to No. 7 with a weekend gross of $4.1 million and a total of $21.8 million, while Dito Montiel's Fighting, with Channing Tatum, also picked up $4.1 million at No. 8 for a domestic total of $17.5 million.
Peter Chelsom's Hannah Montana: The Movie, starring Miley Cyrus, broke the $70 million mark this weekend after taking home $4 million in ninth place, while State of Play, with Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, and Helen Mirren, took home $3.6 million for a cumulative gross of $30.8 million.
Aristomenis Tsirbas' animated sci-fi Battle for Terra, featuring the voices of Chad Allen, Dennis Quaid, Rosanna Arquette, and Danny Glover, among others, was the weekend's third wide release. It finished only at No. 12, with $1 million.
Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)
I really enjoyed X-men orgins much more than the firt X-men films, fantastic film, really gritty! Also want to give the game a go too!