Oz the Great and Powerful kept up its reign, topping the box office for a second week in a row with $42.2 million. Newcomer The Call came in second with an impressive $17.1 million, but fellow new release The Incredible Burt Wonderstone earned a disappointing $10.3 million. Jack the Giant Slayer followed in fourth place with $6.2 million, and Identity Thief rounded out the top five with $4.5 million. Meanwhile, Spring Breakers made its very limited debut in just three theaters, with $270,000.
Not even a wicked witch could stop Oz the Great and Powerful from winning the box office in its first week of release. Sam Raimi's hyped fantasy film took in $80.3 million, making it the year's biggest opener so far. Last week's No. 1, Jack the Giant Slayer, slipped to No. 2 with $10 million. Identity Thief came in third with $6.3 million, and the week's other new release, Dead Man Down, followed with $5.4 million. Snitch rounded out the top five with $5.1 million.
Jack the Giant Slayer won the box office this weekend with $28 million, but it's not exactly a great feat: the Nicholas Hoult flick had a huge budget and didn't quite achieve blockbuster status. Identity Thief finished second and added $9.7 million to its growing total. The weekend's other new releases, 21 and Over and The Last Exorcism Part II, reaped $9 million and $8.3 million, respectively. Rounding out the top five was Dwayne Johnson's Snitch, which took in $7.7 million.
Though it sunk to second place last week, Identity Thief won the box office this week, earning $14.1 million. Dwayne Johnson's new release Snitch took in $13 million and second place, while animated flick Escape From Planet Earth came in third with an $11 million haul. Romantic tearjerker Safe Haven came in fourth with $10.6 million, and A Good Day to Die Hard rounded out the top five with $10 million. The week's other new release, horror flick Dark Skies, earned $8.9 million.
A Good Day to Die Hard celebrated its first weekend of release at the top of the box office with $25 million. Last week's No. 1, Identity Thief, slipped to the second spot, earning $23.4 million. A couple of the week's other new releases, Safe Haven and the animated film Escape From Planet Earth, followed up with $21.4 million and $16 million, respectively. Warm Bodies fell to fifth place with $9 million, and fellow fantasy romance Beautiful Creatures came in with just $7.5 million.
Comedy duo Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy helped Identity Thief top the box office in its opening weekend, taking in a $36.6 million haul. Warm Bodies, last week's No. 1, dropped to second place with $11.5 million, and Steven Soderbergh's pharmaceutical thriller Side Effects opened with $10 million at third place. Silver Linings Playbook held tight with $7 million, and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters rounded out the top five with $5.8 million. Top Gun 3D, the week's other "new" release, earned $2 million in select theaters.
Are you planning on heading to the theater to catch Identity Thief this weekend? Find out whether Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman's screwball comedy warrants a trip to the theater, or if the kooky pair fall flat.
T.I. and Genesis Rodriguez play two gangsters in pursuit of Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman's characters in Identity Thief. We caught up with the costars at a recent press day in LA to find out what it was like to work alongside two major names in comedy. T.I. also weighed in on what his family will probably think of his latest big-screen role as a bad guy. Identity Thief is in theaters today.
A woman steals a man's identity, and without the help of police, the man tracks her down to bring her to justice. Sounds like the recipe for a romantic comedy, right? Well, Identity Thief couldn't be further from a love story. Bateman is Sandy Patterson, the everyman who becomes the unwitting target of Diana (McCarthy), a small-time identity thief. In no time at all, Sandy ends up with creditors at his heels and cuffed at the police station as a result of Diana's shenanigans. Though the cops acknowledge it's an identity theft, state laws dictate that the criminal is Florida's problem, leaving Sandy with no choice but to find Diana himself. It's a setup that could fall completely flat if it didn't cater to the strength its leads, especially McCarthy.
McCarthy carries the film, utilizing her talent for physical comedy and executing slapstick moments with impressive commitment. Bateman is ever the reliable straight man, a role we've seen him play plenty of times before. The characters are polar opposites; Diana's a compulsive liar who hides some deep-seated pain by buying rounds of drinks for strangers at bars, while Sandy is a bland family man in need of a backbone. They can both learn something from the other, but everything feels just a little too obvious.
Despite McCarthy's comedic skills, a few of the gags are overkill. In one of the broader running jokes, Diana has an unbelievable talent for surviving accidents that would kill — or at least maim — a normal person, but each time her head pops up triumphantly, it comes off as more cheesy than celebratory. There's also much ado about the fact that Sandy is a unisex name, a joke which, though uninspired to begin with, loses its vigor after the third repetition. Some of the cruder moments (like Diana's sexual tryst with a cowboy played by Eric Stonestreet) also may not be for everyone.
Identity Thief can be flat-out silly, but there's a kernel of heart in there thanks to its leading lady, who executes a number of emotional moments that allow the audience to connect with the desperately lonely Diana. Though the material isn't stellar, McCarthy still knows how to make us laugh.
Horrible Bosses' Jason Bateman and Bridesmaids' Melissa McCarthy lead the cast of Identity Thief, an all-star comedy in which a regular guy is forced to extreme measures to clear his name. With everything to lose after his identity is stolen, he'll find out how crazed you can get trying to settle a bad credit score.
