And so the questions have now been answered: Superman is definitely back and Warner Bros. has a powerful superhero franchise on their hands. Zack Snyder's Man of Steel opened on late Thursday night with a whopping $12M, setting the stage for an incredible $44M Friday, all of it setting the stage for a record-breaking opening weekend. The $113M has it leaping in a single bound over Toy Story 3 for the June opening weekend red, but it gets even better if you factor in the $12M from Thursday's midnight screenings. Including the full $125M into the mix moves it just behind The Hunger Games for the second best opening weekend of all-time. While analyst projections were always strong, this surpasses most of them by a fairly wide margin, and the 'A-' Cinemascore suggests that fans were more than satisfied by the film and could boost it with repeat viewings. It's certainly everything Warner Bros. had been hoping for, and easily outpaces the $52M debut of 2006's Superman Returns, and the $53M by another franchise-starter, Green Lantern. It's also another win for Christopher Nolan, even though it doesn't beat The Dark Knight's $158M or The Dark Knight Rises' $160M. This was a tough film to gauge, as superhero origin stories traditionally don't do numbers on this scale, as evidence by the $48M opening haul of Batman Begins. Throw in an additional $70M overseas and the film is already approaching $200M. With Snyder and Nolan already prepping the sequel, they've got a solid foundation that could have them finally providing Marvel with some legitimate competition.
2. This Is the End- $20.5M/$32.8M
Wisely beating the last son of Krypton into theaters by two full days, Seth Rogen's apocalyptic stoner comedy This Is the End cleaned up on its first day of release, and went on to a bigger weekend than many expected. The film is basically tracking close to the general averages for its cast, which includes James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride. The total is better than 2008's Pineapple Express, a sequel for which is a big part of this film, as well. Most importantly, this looks like an instant cult classic, and will likely be one of those movies that is quoted and referenced for years.
3. Now You See Me- $10.3M/$80M
Once again, the magician heist flick has the strongest hold of any film in the Top 10, and is charging ahead towards $100M.
4. Fast & Furious 6- $9.4M/$219.6M
5. The Purge- $8.2M/$51.8M
Well, The Purge didn't take the standard second-week tumble most horror movies experience. No, it suffered something far worse, dropping a devastating 75%. That's mainly due to the unexpectedly high number it pulled last week, and considering the film only cost about $3M for the penny-pinchers at Blumhouse Productions, it's nothing but gravy from here on out. So a drop like wasn't totally unexpected, especially in light of the poor 'C' Cinemascore, meaning word-of-mouth wasn't going to do it any favors. The numbers are good enough that a sequel is already being cooked up, but it's doubtful this will reach the heights of Paranormal Activity.
6. The Internship- $7M/$30.95M
Nobody seemed to care all that much about a Wedding Crashers reunion between Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn last week, and that trend continues. The Internship slid 60%, and has pretty much been a total fail since day one.
7. Epic- $6M/$95.4M
8. Star Trek Into Darkness- $5.66M/$210.5M
9. After Earth- $3.75M/$54.2M
10. Iron Man 3- $2.9M/$399.6M
