The military took over America's movie theaters this past weekend, in the form of an old but durable franchise. G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the latest in the action figure-to-live action movie series, was the highest-grossing film during the period, according to figures compiled by industry tracker Box Office Mojo. In its debut, the action movie -- distributed by Viacom's (NASDAQ: VIA) (VIAB) Paramount -- brought in $40.5 million in domestic ticket sales.
That performance was good enough to push last week's champion, DreamWorks Animation's (DWA) The Croods down to No. 2. According to Box Office Mojo, the movie reaped $26.7 million, a 39% drop from its first-week gross. It's currently in its second week of release.
Rounding out the top three was the freshly released Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. The brooding relationship drama took in $21.6 million over the weekend, said Box Office Mojo. That film is distributed by Lions Gate (LGF-A -0.61%).
