The box office appeal of Tom Cruise is alive and well, folks. Grossing an estimated $38.2 million over the weekend, Oblivion is the fifth-best debut ever for a Cruise-starring vehicle piece. Not too shabby at all, considering three of the other four films are Mission: Impossible movies. Furthermore, it marks Cruise’s best opening for a non-sequel film since War of the Worlds (2005), and is, in fact, his first number one debut since 2006’s Mission: Impossible III. Directed by Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy) and co-starring Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurlyenko, and Andrea Riseborough, Oblivion is a visually striking sci-fi epic that easily triumphed as this weekend’s box office champion.
Holding up relatively well in its second weekend, the record-breaking baseball drama 42 dropped 34 percent in earnings, taking in $18 million for a second place finish. While that’s certainly positive news for a modestly budgeted film well in reach of the 100 million dollar revenue mark, such a dip does fall short of its A+ CinemaScore counterparts The Help (23 percent) and Argo (16 percent). The well-to-do animated film The Croods continued its successful run, finishing in third with a $9.5 million haul. Continuing to disappoint, on the other hand, was horror movie spoof Scary Movie 5, which, heading into its second week, only earned $6.3 million (good for a 56 percent drop). Rounding out the top five with $5.8 million was the action-packed adventure movie, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
*It is worth noting that after having expanded its theatre count from 514 to 1,542, the Ryan Gosling/Bradley Cooper crime drama The Place Beyond the Pines has increased its ticket sales by 23 percent to $4.75 million in revenue.
Here are the top ten movies at the box office for the weekend of April 19th to 21st:
1. Oblivion – $38.2 million
2. 42 – $18 million (Total: $54.1 million)
3. The Croods – $9.5 million (Total: $155 million)
4. Scary Movie 5 – $6.3 million (Total: $22.9 million)
5. G.I. Joe: Retaliation – $5.8 million (Total: $111.2 million)
6. The Place Beyond the Pines – $4.75 million (Total: $11.4 million)
7. Olympus Has Fallen – $4.5 million (Total: $88.8 million)
8. Evil Dead – $4.1 million (Total: $48.4 million)
9. Jurassic Park 3D – $4 million (Total: $38.5 million)
10. Oz the Great and Powerful – $3 million (Total: $223.8 million)