"Man of Steel" smashes June box-office record
"Man of Steel" is pulling in some super numbers at the box office.
The Henry Cavill-starring reboot managed to take in more than $113 million in domestic ticket sales over the weekend -- the biggest opening ever for a movie released in June. The superhero action flick stole the record previously held by "Toy Story 3," which opened in June, 2010, with $110 million.
Officially released on Thursday in both standard and IMAX 3D formats, "Man of Steel" is expected to easily recoup its $225 million budget. The film has already made almost $197 million when factoring in international ticket sales.
Audience tracking suggests that viewers were nearly split between men and women, which is somewhat unusual for a comic book movie. Cavill's co-stars Amy Adams and Diane Lane might have had a hand in pulling female theatergoers into seeing the superhero film.
Whileit wasn't a big hit with critics, the Superman reboot impressed audiences. The film has an "A-" rating on Cinemascore.
A sequel is already on the way.
And Superman wasn't the only one flying high at the theaters this weekend.
"This Is The End,"the new star-studded meta-comedy co-written and co-directed by Seth Rogen, opened in the No. 2 spot at the box office with $20.5 million. It was officially released on Wednesday and has already made back its $32 million budget.
"Now You See Me" conjured its way into third place with $10.3 million. The magician heist thriller starring Michael Caine, Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo and Morgan Freeman has managed to snag over $80 million since it was first released three weeks ago.
"Fast & Furious 6"drove into number No. 4 with $9.4 million, bringing its domestic gross to almost $220 million.
Ethan Hawke'shorror hit, "The Purge," scared its way into fifth place. Surprising industry analysts with its $34 opening weekend last week, "The Purge" had a chilling 76 percent drop this week with a little over $8 million in ticket sales. But the film has still earned a total gross so far of almost $52 million, well ahead of its $3 million budget.
