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
