Pain & Gain Lands at the Top, Smacks Down Oblivion

 

Pain & Gain muscled its way to the top of this weekend's box office.
The bodybuilder action flick, based on the true story of a group of steroid-abusing bodybuilders caught up in an extortion ring, raked in $20 million, knocking Oblivion off the top-spot block.

Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson star in Michael Bay's latest film, which didn't get the best reviews from critics (to say the least) but met the expectations of analysts, who estimated the flick would pull in about $20 million and rank No. 1.
Oblivion grabbed the second spot with $17.4 million followed by 42, which nabbed $10.7 million.

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Meanwhile, after originally getting scheduled for an Oct. 26, 2013 release, The Big Wedding, starring Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton, debuted this weekend, and fell short of projections with only $7.5 million.
In spite of less-than-stellar box office revenues this weekend, box office totals are expected to pick up significantly in the coming weeks, with summer movie season kicking off May 3 with the release of Iron Man 3.
The highly anticipated film opened internationally this weekend, raking in a whopping $195.3 million in 42 overseas markets.

Here's a complete look at the weekend's top movies, per Friday-Sunday studio estimates and stats as compiled per Box Office Mojo:
1. Pain and Gain, $20 million
2. Oblivion, $17.4 million
3. 42, $10.7 million
4. The Big Wedding, $7.5 million
5. The Croods, $6.6 million
6. G.I. Joe: Retaliation, $3.6 million
7. Scary Movie 5, $3.5 million
8. Olympus Has Fallen, $2.8 million
9. The Place Beyond the Pines, $2.7 million
10 .Jurassic Park 3D, $2.3 million