Superman reboot ‘Man of Steel’ soars over US box office

This film publicity image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Henry Cavill as Superman, left, and Amy Adams as Lois Lane in “Man of Steel.” AP/Warner Bros. Pictures

LOS ANGELES—Superman blockbuster “Man of Steel” soared to the top of the North American box office this weekend, scoring a $116.6-million opening despite mixed reviews, figures showed Monday.

The Zach Snyder-directed movie stars British actor Henry Cavill as the iconic superhero, with Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams playing Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane in a cast that also includes Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

The production is the latest attempt to build a money-spinning franchise around the planet Krypton’s most famous son, and follows a 2006 reboot by Warner Bros—”Superman Returns”—which ultimately stalled after one film.

Snyder’s movie has divided critics, however, scoring a modest 56 percent rating on the movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with many complaining of an over-reliance on computer-generated imagery.

Another new film, “This Is the End,” a comedy starring James Franco and Jonah Hill, opened in second place with $20.7 million, figures from the industry tracker Exhibitor Relations showed.

Sleeper hit “Now You See Me,” about an FBI agent and an Interpol detective who hunt down a team of illusionists performing bank heists during their shows, held on to third place with $11 million.

Action sequel “Fast & Furious 6,” starring Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, added another $9.6 million, taking its outright haul to $219.7 million and positioning it in fourth place.

Low-budget horror film “The Purge”—which scored a surprisingly strong opening last week to top the box office—fell to fifth place with $8.3 million.

However, the $3 million Universal feature starring Ethan Hawke and “Game of Thrones” star Lena Headey has now earned a total of $52 million, with a sequel already in the works, according to industry reports.

In sixth place was the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy “The Internship,” which sees the “Wedding Crashers” co-stars competing with tech-savvy wizards after scoring an internship at Google. The film took $7.1 million.

In seventh spot was animated film “Epic” with $6.29 million, a whisker ahead of “Star Trek: Into Darkness” with $6.26 million. The eighth-placed film has earned $211.1 million so far.

Another science-fiction offering, “After Earth” starring Will Smith, was ninth with $4.1 million.

Superhero sequel “Iron Man 3” rounded out the top 10 with $3 million in its seventh week, for a total of $399.7 million since its release in May.

 Originally posted: June 18, 2013 | 6:53 am