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 +0.00%) 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 +0.00%) 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 +0.00%).
