With little out there to challenge its supremacy for a couple of weeks, Sam Raimi's Oz the Great and Powerful sniffed the air and thought to itself: "I'll have a bit more." The resulting $42.2m (£27.9m) weekend haul through Buena Vista pushed the family movie's running total to a highly respectable $145m. Rival studios were wise to steer clear of Oz's $79.1m opening slot last weekend and similarly there were no challenges from likeminded family fare in the second session.
Oz did not budge from its No 1 berth and maintained winning ways in the international marketplace too, leading to a $47m haul. Globally, it stands at $282m from a little over one week's business. Also of note is the Imax number. Oz brought in around $4m from 308 of the giant screens in North America, where it has generated $14m. The accompanying Imax release of a Hollywood tentpole is part of the landscape these days and the giant-screen business is booming internationally, where Imaxes have returned around $6.6m.
The strength of the female audience is something Hollywood recognises all too well after the success of early-2013 releases such as Identity Thief, and once again women turned out to good effect at the weekend, driving Halle Berry thriller The Call to an impressive $17.1m No 2 debut. The movie's US distributor TriStar said women accounted for roughly 61% of the opening weekend audience. Alas it seems not too many people from any demographic made the effort to support Warner Bros' new comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. The Steve Carell magician comedy (which features a smaller role for his old Bruce Almighty pal Jim Carrey) arrived in third place on a disappointing $10.3m.
Outside the top 10 there was a notable performance by A24, the new arthouse distributor based in New York that launched last year with the backing of the Guggenheim Fund. A24's publicists were trumpeting a double whammy this weekend. Harmony Korine's cheeky Spring Breakers opened in three venues on $270,000, which results in an extraordinary $90,000 per-site average. Also from A24 was Ginger & Rosa, the Elle Fanning London-set drama that premiered at the Toronto international film festival in 2012. That one grossed $45,000 from three sites for a strong $15,000 average. Later this year A24 will stage the limited release of Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, starring Emma Watson as she recasts herself as a post-Potter actor of versatility following her decent turn in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
North American top 10, 15-17 March 2013
1. Oz The Great And Powerful, $42.2m. Total: $145m
2. The Call, $17.1m
3. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, $10.3m
4. Jack The Giant Slayer, $6.2m. Total: $53.9m
5. Identity Thief, $4.5m. Total: $123.7m
6. Snitch, $3.5m. Total: $37.3m
7. 21 And Over, $2.6m. Total: $21.9m
8. Silver Linings Playbook, $2.6m. Total: $124.6m
9. Safe Haven, $2.5m. Total: $66.9m
10. Escape From Planet Earth, $2.3m. Total: $52.2m
