21 Jump Street Wins Weekend Box Office, The Lorax Remains Strong

On the strength of some decent reviews and word of mouth the movie version of the TV hit 21 Jump Street managed to win the weekend box office with $35 million despite the comedies R-rating.

While other movies with an R-rating have had similar numbers such as Scary Movie ($42.3 million) and Wedding Crashers ($33.9 million) those movies were released in the more profitable summer months.

The only R-rated movie to debut outside the summer months with a higher release was Jackass 3-D which took in $50.4 million in October 2011.

The Jonah Hill starring vehicle is one of the actors better outings, beating out The Sitter $(30.4 million) while Get Him to the Greek took in $61 million.

The winning box office also gives Channing Tatum his second straight hit after The Vow, which has earned $121.1 million-to-date. Tatum will next be seen in G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Magic Mike, both of which arrive in June.

With 21 Jump Street costing just $42 million to produce there’s a chance a franchise may follow the movies first outing.

Also fairing well in the weekend box office was The Lorax which saw a dip of 41 percent in its third weekend for a total of $22.8 million. After 17 days the movie has taken in $158.4 million to beat out the last Dr. Suess animated flick Horton Hears A Who which took in $154.5 million in 2008. The Lorax cost just $70 million to produce. Universal and Illumination Entertainment are now preparing for an animated version of The Cat in the Hat.

Still suffering horrendously is John Carter the $250 million Disney flop that has grossed just $53.2 million after 10 days in wide release. The move has slightly managed to up its overall take with overseas gross ticket sales reaching $126.1 million.

Rounding out the top five were Project X with $4 million for a total take of $48.1 million on a budget of $15 million and A Thousand Words which has bombed as yet another Eddie Murphy vehicle with just $12.1 million earned for the $40 million comedy.

Did any of this weekends box office totals surprise you?