‘Identity Thief’ tops North American box office

This undated publicity image released by Universal Pictures shows Jason Bateman, background, and Melissa McCarthy in a scene from “Identity Thief.” AP PHOTO/UNIVERSAL PICTURES

LOS ANGELES—The comedy “Identity Thief” defied mediocre reviews by critics and topped the box office in the United States and Canada in its opening weekend, industry figures showed Sunday.

The comedy, starring Jason Bateman from the TV series “Arrested Development” and “Bridesmaids” breakaway star Melissa McCarthy, pulled in $36.6 million Friday to Sunday, according to preliminary figures released by tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

Salon.com said that the movie “reaches impressive heights of laziness and idiocy;” the Toronto Star slammed it as a “sloppily made exercise of rip-offs and redemption;” and National Public Radio dismissed it as an “uninspired trudge of a road movie.”

It was followed by the romantic zombie comedy “Warm Bodies,” based on Isaac Marion’s book of the same name and inspired by Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” which took $11.5 million in sales.

Director Steven Soderbergh’s new suspense film, “Side Effects,” starring Jude Law and Rooney Mara, opened third. The movie, which follows a woman who goes on antidepressant drugs after her husband is released from prison, pulled in $10 million.

Fourth was the Oscar-nominated romantic comedy “Silver Linings Playbook,” starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, with $6.9 million, followed by “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunt,” a horror movie twist on the classic fairy tale starring Jeremy Renner, with $5.8 million.

Horror flick “Mama,” in which a shadowy being trails two young children rescued after being lost in the woods when their parents died, fell from fourth to sixth place with $4.3 million, followed by the Oscar-tipped Osama bin Laden manhunt movie “Zero Dark Thirty” with $4 million.

Director Ben Affleck’s “Argo,” the story of a bold CIA operation to rescue six US diplomats trapped by the 1979 hostage crisis in Iran, made the eighth spot, pulling in $2.5 million, followed by another Oscar nominee, Quentin Tarantino’s blood-soaked spaghetti Western tribute “Django Unchained,” with $2.3 million.

Rounding off the list was Sylvester Stallone’s latest action movie, “Bullet to the Head,” with $2 million.

Exhibitor Relations releases the final weekend box office returns on Monday.