'Pain & Gain' Outmuscles the Competition
The action-comedy Pain & Gain, starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson, flexed its muscles in its opening weekend, topping the box office with an estimated $20 million.
While the film, based on the true crime story of the '90s Miami-based Sun Gym Gang, saw gain, the other wide-release film making its box-office debut, The Big Wedding, experienced a bout of pain.
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The ensemble comedy, starring Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams, Amanda Seyfried, and Katherine Heigl, posted a measly $7.5 million on opening weekend.
Big Wedding, a remake of the 2006 French film Mon frère se marie (trans: My Brother Is Getting Married), subsequently finished No. 4 at the weekend box office, topped by the Jackie Robinson biopic 42, which finished with $10.7 million in its third weekend to increase its gross total to $69.1 million.
After handsomely topping the box office in its opening weekend, sci-fi flick Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise, nearly retained its top spot in its second weekend, finishing in second with $17.4 million.
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The futuristic film, which also stars Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, has now reaped a gross domestic total of $64.7 million.
Continuing to steadily add to their nine-figure totals this weekend in their respective sixth and fifth weeks of release were animated adventure film The Croods (No. 5: $6.6 million, $163 million) and rejuvenated action series G.I. Joe (No. 6: $3.6 million, $116.4 million).
Meanwhile, previously successful comedy franchise Scary Movie continues to post paltry figures at the box office for its fifth installment, increasing its gross total to $27.5 million with $3.5 million in its third week of release.
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The prior four Scary Movie films have all collected at least $100 million at the box office.
In other box-office news, although it has yet to premiere in the U.S., action film Iron Man 3 is flourishing in international release, reeling in a reported record-setting $195.3 million, thus surpassing The Avengers' international opening weekend of $185.1 million.
The film, starring Robert Downey Jr. as "Tony Stark/Iron Man," will be released in the U.S. this upcoming Friday.