Superman flies at the US Box office

Superman returned to the United States this weekend, but though he had a healthy opening weekend, he wasn’t quite the superhero Warner Bros may have been hoping for.

With the advantage of opening on a Wednesday, Returns took in $84 million in the five-day period, which is better than either Batman Begins or King Kong, but likely to still be considered disappointing. With Pirates Of The Caribbean 2 breathing down Kal-El’s neck, he’ll have to hope that the box office keeps up, or Jack Sparrow will be along to steal his booty.

And it looks like Clark Kent’s Kryptonite was the ladies. While the caped hero was wowing the male crowd, women were choosing a slightly more fashionable look, opting to go and see The Devil Wears Prada instead. The Anne Hathaway/Meryl Streep fashion mag comedy nabbed $27 million for second place, despite opening in 1,200 fewer cinemas than Superman and only having three days to make its total.

In third, Adam Sandler’s Click seemed to drop quite badly as Sandlerfans checked out Superman instead. But it did manage to scoop in $19.4 million, for a running total of more than $77 million. Cars, meanwhile, pulled in at four with an extra $14 million. Its US total alone is now $182 million.

Nacho Libre landed at fifth, taking $6 million, while The Lake House stood firm against the Prada competition, managing $4.5 million for sixth. Seventh place went to The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, which is drifting towards the bottom of the charts, and has made $51 million in the States so far.

At eight stands Waist Deep, which has scored an impressive $15 million so far, exceeding expectations. The Break-Up lingers in the charts, but it managed $2.8 million in its fifth weekend. The Da Vinci Code, meanwhile, is well over the $200 million mark with $209 million, and will likely slip from the top ten next week.