Paramount’s sci-fi mystery defied expectations to pull off a solid launch and earn the first number one debut for an original storyline of the summer, while Relativity Media’s Judy Moody flopped in seventh place.

A pair of films crossed $200m: Warner Bros/Legendary’s comedy The Hangover Part II in third place stands at $216.6m after three weekends, while Disney’s Pirates 4 reached $208.8m in its fourth session.

The $38m opening weekend for Super 8 – directed by JJ Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg – incudes $1m from a Twitter-driven preview day, looks good considering the adventure reportedly cost approximately $50m to make.

Fox’s X-Men: First Class is on the cusp of $100m after the superhero prequel story slid to second place on $25m for $98.9m.

Fox Searchlight’s Palme d’Or winner The Tree Of Life in 11th place expanded by 20 theatres into 47 and added $875,000 for $2.4m.

IFC launched Michael Winterbottom’s faux verite road movie The Trip starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in six theatres for $84,600.

Next weekend’s wide releases are Warner Bros’ Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds, Mark Strong and Blake Lively; and Fox’s Jim Carrey family comedy Mr Popper’s Penguins.

Estimated Top 10 North America Jun 10-12, 2011
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (-) Super 8 (Paramount) PPI $37m $38m
2 (1) X-Men: First Class (Fox) Fox Int’l $25m $98.9m
3 (2) The Hangover Part II (Warner Bros) WBPI $18.5m $216.6m
4 (3) Kung Fu Panda 2 (Paramount/DreamWorks) PPI $16.6m $126.9m
5 (4) Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Buena Vista) WDSMPI $10.8m $208.8m
6 (5) Bridesmaids (Universal) UPI $10.2m $123.9m
7 (-) Judy Moody And The NOT Bummer Summer (Relativity) FilmNation $6.3m –
8 (8) Midnight In Paris (Sony Pictures Classics) Imagina $6.1m $14.2m
9 (6) Thor (Paramount/Marvel Studios) PPI $2.4m $173.6m
10 (7) Fast Five (Universal) UPI $1.7m $205.1m

Topics