Bob Mahoney/Universal PicturesIdentity Thief stole the weekend box office.
The new Jason Bateman-Melissa McCarthy comedy grossed an estimated $36.6 million.
The three-day take is the biggest of the year so far; it's the fifth-biggest opening ever for a non-sequel R-rated comedy.
Universal Pictures, the studio behind Identity Thief, projected that the movie could've hit $40 million had it not been for the Northeast blizzard, which hit Friday, shuttered theaters and was blamed for cutting into box-office business across the board. (E! and Universal Pictures are both part of the NBCUniversal family.
Of those who managed to make it to the multiplex, women and the over-30 crowd drove much of Identity Thief's ticket sales. The film was graded a solid B by opening-weekend audiences, a distinct break with critics, who piled on the film, and Rex Reed, who just got mean.
Elsewhere, Warm Bodies ($11.5 million; $36.7 million overall domestically), last weekend's No. 1 film, showed strong legs even as it slipped to second place.
Side Effects, the new Steven Soderbergh thriller with Rooney Mara, was more The Informant! than Magic Mike, debuting with $10 million.
Among Oscar movies, Ben Affleck's Argo ($2.5 million; $123.7 million overall domestically), in theaters since last October, stormed back into the Top 10, and, as on the Best Picture leaderboard, surged past Steven Spielberg's Lincoln ($1.9 million; $173.6 million overall domestically).
Old Tom Cruise, meaning 1980s Tom Cruise, had a very good weekend. The IMAX 3-D re-release of Top Gun ($1.9 million) very nearly cracked the Top 10 on the strength of only 300 theaters.
Here's a complete look at the weekend's top movies, per Friday-Sunday studio estimates and stats as compiled per Exhibitor Relations:
- Identity Thief, $36.6 million
- Warm Bodies, $11.5 million
- Side Effects, $10 million
- Silver Linings Playbook, $6.9 million
- Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, $5.8 million
- Mama, $4.3 million
- Zero Dark Thirty, $4 million
- Argo, $2.5 million
- Django Unchained, $2.3 million
- Bullet to the Head, $2 million