Movie

The DreamWorks film score the second-best debut in 2013 after 'Oz: The Great and Powerful', while the White House takedown flick has the best bow for action movie ahead of 'A Good Day to Die Hard'.

• Mar 25, 2013

AceShowbiz - Two weeks after being dominated by "Oz: The Great and Powerful", North American box office finally has a new champion. Receiving an "A" from CinemaScore, "The Croods", a 3D adventure animated movie about cave men in prehistoric era, sails to the top spot with a strong bow. It's followed at the second place by action thriller "Olympus Has Fallen".

The DreamWorks film voiced by Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds debuts with $44.7 million, exceeding the projection of $39 million. It becomes the second-biggest debut in 2013 after "Oz" ($79.1 million). The family-friendly flick adds $63.3 million overseas, bringing in a total of impressive $108 million globally against a reported budget of $135 million.

For DreamWorks, "The Croods" becomes their redemption after "Rise of the Guardians" flopped and forced the studio to take an $87 million write-down. The movie voiced by Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin and Hugh Jackman opened with just $23.7 million in 2012 and earned $103.2 million domestically against a budget of $145 million.

Though falling short of claiming the hot spot, "Olympus Has Fallen" still makes an impressive bow. The movie rakes in $30.5 million after three days of release, well above the $20 million projections. Costing FilmDistrict $70 million to produce and getting an "A-" CinemaScore, it scores the best debut for action movie in 2013 beating "A Good Day to Die Hard" ($24.8M).

It's worth noting that the film about the invasion of the White House by terrorists enjoys big success after "Bullet to the Head", "Parker" and "The Last Stand" that targeted the same older-male audience underperformed in theaters. The movie also becomes Gerard Butler's first success flick since his last three wide releases tanked.

Disney's wizard adventure film "Oz" starring the likes of James Franco and Mila Kunis drops to the third place with additional $22 million. Meanwhile, last week's runner-up Halle Berry's "The Call" falls to the fourth place with $8.7 million giving a total of respectable $30.9 million after ten days of release.

Tina Fey / Paul Rudd comedy "Admission" rounds up the top 5 with only $6.4 million. Another Franco film "Spring Breakers" is unable to follow "Oz" success. The raunchy performance of former Disney darlings Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens stripping to their bikinis doesn't help much. It only settles at the sixth spot with $5 million.

1. "The Croods" - $44.7 million
2. "Olympus Has Fallen" - $30.5 million
3. "Oz: The Great and Powerful" - $22 million
4. "The Call" - $8.7 million
5. "Admission" - $6.4 million
6. "Spring Breakers" - $5 million
7. "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" - $4.2 million
8. "Jack the Giant Slayer" - $2.9 million
9. "Identity Thief" - $2.5 million
10. "Snitch" - $1.9 million