It was a tag-team battle royale this weekend at the box office, with odd couples in every corner. But when the defending champs are a pair of Pixar monsters, chances of getting tossed out of the ring are pretty high.
Mike and Sulley pushed Monsters University to an estimated $46.2 million for its second box office victory in a row. The haul was enough to hold off The Heat, the R-rated buddy-cop movie starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. But don’t weep for the two funny ladies. (No, really, please don’t.) The Heat’s $40 million opening was the highest ever for either of them and could well spawn The Heat 2. Would that be Reheated?
The week’s other new odd couple (Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx), discovered that the operative word in their movie title (White House Down) was Down. Though some prognosticators expected it to challenge for the top spot this weekend, it collected a disappointing $25.7 million to finish fourth—behind the still twitching zombie movie holdover World War Z ($29.8 mil). For the folks over at Sony who greenlighted the Washington, D.C., caper, that’s gotta be something of a White House downer.
The venerable Man of Steel took a tumble into fifth place. But its $20.8 million tally lifted Supes’ three-week take to $248.7 million. Not that Superman has need for that kind of cash, what with his regular paycheck from The Daily Planet and all. Still, it does make Man of Steel the year’s second-highest grossing movie—right behind another costumed do-gooder in Iron Man 3.
Tony Stark may have the upper hand at the box office this year. But methinks that if Iron Man and Superman faced off in a wrestling ring, I’d bet on the guy with the cape.
Final figures update: 1. Monsters University, $45.6 million; 2. The Heat, $39.1 million; 3. World War Z, $29.8 million; 4. White House Down, $24.9 million; 5. Man of Steel, $20.7 million.
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