Weekend Receipts: Thor Hammers The Box Office Competition

It was a weekend for the gods as Thor had a divine debut at number one, kicking off the summer of super heroes to a solid start. The vroom-vroom-smash of Fast Five took a steep plunge to number two while Jumping the Broom had a surprisingly strong showing at number three. Which meant that the widely-reviled Something Borrowed(more like Something Blew, amirite, dudes??) could only manage fourth place. Your weekend receipts are here.

1. Thor

Gross: $66,000,000 (new)

Screens: 3,955 (PSA: $16,688)

Weeks: 1

Some folks are calling this a soft opening, which I think is a little unfair. This is kind of unprecedented ground for a summer blockbuster--it has to teach audiences about such popcorny terms like bifrost, Jotunheim, Asgard & the like, and get them to care about them. There wasn't an easy recognition point like fast cars or Nazis for the audience, so I think such a big, well-reviewed opening for Thor speaks well to how much fun it is to watch.

2. Fast Five

Gross: $32,519,000 ($139,853,000)

Screens: 3,662 (PSA: $8,880)

Weeks: 2 (change: -62.3%)

Is there anything I can say about Fast Five that wasn't said better by its five-year-old screenwriter?

3. Jumping The Broom

Gross: $13,700,000 (new)

Screens: 2,035 (PSA: $6,732)

Weeks: 1

Overheard at the Jumping the Broom press junket: "After so many Tyler Perry movies, I had forgotten that an African-American movie doesn't have to be crappy!" And it can even beat the pants off a much more expensive romantic comedy, too!

4. Something Borrowed

Gross: $13,155,000 (new)

Screens: 2,904 (PSA: $4,530)

Weeks: 1

Hey, remember when Kate Hudson almost won an Oscar? Like she was the odds-on favorite and it was shocking when she lost it to Marcia Gay Harden. Boy, that was a close call! After all the absolutely terrible movies she's done since then, it'd be a Roberto Benigni-level travesty if they had to bill her as "Academy Award-winner Kate Hudson" for stuff like You, Me and Dupree.

5. Rio

Gross: $8,200,000 ($114,902,000)

Screens: 3,258 (PSA: $2,517)

Weeks: 4 (change: -44.5%)

Instead of birds, lets talk beavers. Specifically Mel Gibson's The Beaver which opened in 22 theaters for a very so-so 100 grand or so. It's going to open wider on May 20, but I don't think this is going to be the comeback vehicle that Mel might've hoped for.

[Numbers via Box Office Mojo]