'Lucy' Knocks Out 'Hercules' at the Weekend Box Office

Universal

More people wanted to watch fully-clothed Scarlett Johansson punching mobsters than a mostly-shirtless Dwayne Johnson drop-kicking giant boars.

According to the action sci-fi thriller Lucy, using more than 10% of your brain's full capacity can allow you to bend the laws of physics and stop time. It also allows Scarlett Johansson to thoroughly trounce Dwayne Johnson in the battle for box-office supremacy.


1. Lucy – $44 million.
Who could have guessed that a lot of people would want to watch Scarlett Johansson beat the hell out of a bunch of dudes? That's exactly what happened this weekend. While $44 million isn't record setting, director Luc Besson – creator of The Fifth Element and Leon: The Professional – was able to create a blockbuster epic on a relatively modest $40 million budget.


WATCH:The Special Effects Secrets Behind Scarlett Johansson's Lucy


2. Hercules – $29 million.
While Dwayne Johnson beating up boars, lions and tattooed zombie people didn't draw as many people to the theaters as ScarJo punching gangsters in the face, The Rock's Hercules movie managed to pull in a lot more business than Kellan Lutz's The Legend Of Hercules, released earlier this year, which only drew in $8.8 million. However, this demi-god still has a long way to go before making back the film's $100 million budget.


3. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes – $16.4 million.
With this latest haul of cash, the sci-fi thriller finally surpassed its $170 million budget with a domestic gross of $172 million.


4. The Purge: Anarchy – $9.8 million.
In two weeks, this film has already earned $51.2 million, almost exactly on par with the first film in the franchise. And, with only a $9 million budget, the film's second weekend earnings alone cover what it cost to produce.


RELATED: Lucy Takes Down Hercules In Opening Day Sales


5. Planes: Fire & Rescue – $9.3 million.
Unfortunately, nothing is going to rescue this Disney cash grab from under performing. If you're worried for Disney, don't be. They'll make billions on merchandise.


6. Sex Tape
– $5.9 million. Turns out a week later, still no one wants to watch Jason Segel hooking up with Cameron Diaz.


7. Transformers: Age Of Extinction – $4.6 million.
This movie has made $966.3 million overseas. It will break $1 billion in the next few weeks. Prepare for a lifetime of Transformers movies.


8. And So It Goes – $4.5 million.
Grumpy Michael Douglas awkwardly romancing grumpy Diane Keaton didn't set the world on fire.


RELATED: Apes Beats Sex Tape at Weekend Box Office


9. Tammy – $3.4 million.
Melissa McCarthy's movie has made $78.1 million off a $20 million budget, so expect her to play more abrasively-dumb-yet-somehow-endearing-pseudo criminals in the future.


10. A Most Wanted Man – $2.7 million.
With a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, Oscar buzz is already surrounding this solid spy thriller, especially for the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays the film's lead.


Guardians Of The Galaxy
is coming out next week, and there's no point in pretending it won't dominate the box office. If that doesn't strike your fancy, the James Brown biopic Get On Up has been ill-advisedly programmed as competition. Also, the Indie rom-com What If, starring Daniel Radcliffe, the indie horror Cabin Fever: Patient Zero, the rom-com The Olivia Experiment and the Brendan Gleeson drama Calvary are all in limited release as well.


What did you see this weekend?