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?
