Proving that heavily mixed reviews are often no bar to box office success, The Hangover 2 romped home to a big win this weekend, boosted by kicking off on Thursday and the long Memorial Day holiday across the pond. While the weekend gross across the three days was $105.7 million, midnight screenings and those extra couple of days in release means that the Wolfpack’s latest outing now has the highest-grossing opening weekend ever for a live-action comedy and $137.3 million in the US domestic bank so far. It appears destined to easily match or, more likely, beat the original’s hefty totals.
Kung Fu Panda 2, on the other hand, couldn’t quite live up to its own cinematic parent’s performance, earning a decent but hardly huge $68 million and placing second. Still, it was ahead of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which slipped to third with $50.3 million, and Bridesmaids, which dropped to fourth and $20.9 million. Thor fell to fifth and took in $12 million.
Outside the top five, Fast Five continued to do decent business, drawing in $8.1 million, while Midnight in Paris made its mark on the top 10 for the first time, jumping up from 13th to seventh with $3.5 million. Rio was eighth, making $2.4 million and Jumping the Broom took ninth with $2.35 million. Finally, at 10th, we find Something Borrowed, which prepared to leave the top 10 with $2.32 million for the weekend and $35.2 million in total to date.
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