Columbia PicturesYes, the new Superman passed his first big box-office test. And, yes, Leonardo DiCaprio's latest Oscar vehicle got off OK.
But, no, Jack and Jill did not end up as the worst-reviewed, worst-performing Adam Sandler movie of the year.
Not even close.
Jack and Jill bowed in second place in the weekend standings with an estimated Friday-Sunday take of $26 million, on the low end of the scale for Sandler comedies, but not on the lowest Little Nicky end. The bottom line: Not great, not a disaster.
The cross-dressing comedy, starring Sandler and (wait for it…) Sandler, dodged another bullet when it rallied, so to speak, to post a 3 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, up from its inglorious 0 percent on Friday.
Put 'em all together, and Jack and Jill was no Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star. That quickly forgotten Sandler-produced and -cowritten comedy from September opened to just $1.4 million nationwide, and earned an irredeemable goose egg from movie reviewers.
Immortals, meanwhile, put upcoming Man of Steel star Henry Cavill at No. 1. The $75 million battle epic grossed $32 million, and another $36 million overseas. The haul here was bigger than expected, and maybe even surprisingly strong considering the real-world competition posed by Saturday night's high-profile boxing and mixed-martial arts bouts.
DiCaprio's J. Edgar, the biopic of the FBI legend/tyrant which paired the star for the first time with Clint Eastwood, who directed, earned $11.5 million, up from Eastwood's last wide-release, awards-season offering, 2009's Invictus. (For those keeping score at home, J. Edgar actually opened in limited release on Wednesday, but moved onto nearly 2,000 screens on Friday.)
Elsewhere, the family-friendly toon Puss in Boots dropped from No. 1 to third, but otherwise held nicely, and passed the $100 million mark overall.
In its second weekend, Tower Heist became old news just like the Brett Ratner-Eddie Murphy Oscars, and fell to fourth. So far, the $75 million comedy has lumbered its way to about $44 million domestically.
Brad Pitt's Moneyball, one of the success stories of the fall, exited the Top 10 after a solid seven-weekend stay. The $50 million baseball movie has grossed about $72 million here.
George Clooney and Ryan Gosling's The Ides of March also dropped from the Top 10. The political lasted five weekends, and came away with just under $40 million—all in all, pretty good for a grownup political thriller that reputedly cost about $12.5 million.
Here's a complete look at the weekend's top movies, as compiled from the studios' domestic estimates and Exhibitor Relations stats:
- Immortals, $32 million
- Jack and Jill, $26 million
- Puss in Boots, $25.5 million
- Tower Heist, $13.2 million
- J. Edgar, $11.5 million
- A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, $5.9 million
- In Time, $4.2 million
- Paranormal Activity 3, $3.6 million
- Footloose, $2.7 million
- Real Steel, $2 million