Weekend Box Office: G.I. Joe Takes First Place With Second Deployment

There was an interesting mix of new arrivals in theaters this weekend: a G.I. Joe sequel, a movie based on a Stephenie Meyer novel that doesn't involve teenage vampires, and yet another entry from the prolific Tyler Perry. The results at the box office were just as mixed.

The most anticipated arrival was G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Taking advantage of the three day Easter weekend, the movie opened Thursday taking first place earning $51 million in four days, just short of the $54 million that its predecessor G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra earned over its three day weekend debut. Despite that small short fall, and thanks to $80 million in estimated international sales so far, the sequel proved the franchise has legs, making way for future outings for the Hasbro heroes.

Tyler Perry's name has never been synonomous with blockbuster, but his movies are consistently profitable for the writer/director/actor and his long time partner Lions Gate Films. His latest offering, Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor, opened in the number three spot with $22 million, just shy of the $23 million average for Perry's past film openings.

Stephenie Meyer has built an empire of frothing fandom with her internationally popular Twilight series, but far less well known, and far less popular, is her stand alone young-adult novel The Host which saw its film adaptation open to a disappointing $11 million sixth place. Critics have panned the sci-fi drama and without the kinds of teen frenzy back up that Twilight enjoyed, such a quiet opening isn't much of a surprise.

Oz The Great and Powerful fell just short of the $200 million mark his weekend, but still remains the highest grossing film of what is so far turning out to be a down year at the box office. With $2.2 billion in gross domestic sales to date, 2013 is more than $300 million behind the same weekend last year.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below: