Green Lantern lights up the US box office

Green Lantern took its bow at the US box office this weekend, powering its way to the top of the pile and landing $52.6m.

Though nothing to be scoffed at, that’s still $4m short of X-Men: First Class ’ opening a few weeks ago – the latter’s debut was considered stable if not overwhelmingly successful.

Lantern did beat Warner Bros’ last attempt to launch a comic-book franchise, however. Six years ago , Batman Begins only opened with $48.7m.

The difference there, though, is that Begins received wildly positive reviews (and had box office staying power). Green Lantern hasn’t (and therefore probably doesn't). Does that mean Lantern 2 ’s dead in the water? Well, keep watching the skies.

The one thing Ryan Reynolds' superhero flick did achieve was knocking last week’s well-reviewed pack-leader Super 8 off the top spot. JJ Abrams’ nostalgic sci-fi dropped to second place with $21.2m.

Meanwhile, the only other new opener this weekend came in the waddling form of Jim Carrey’s family comedy Mr. Popper’s Penguins , which debuted in third with a middling $18.2m.

Here’s what the top ten ended up looking like…

1 Green Lantern $52,685,000 $ 52.6
2 Super 8 $21,250,000 $ 72.7
3 Mr. Popper’s Penguins $18,200,000 $ 18.2
4 X-Men: First Class $11,500,000 $119.9
5 The Hangover: Part II $ 9,635,000 $232.6
6 Kung Fu Panda 2 $ 8,700,000 $143.3
7 Bridesmaids $ 7,487,000 $136.8
8 Pirates of the Caribbean 4 $ 6,236,000 $220.3
9 Midnight in Paris $ 5,237,000 $ 21.8
10 Judy Moody $ 2,241,000 $ 11.1