Superman reboot 'Man of Steel' soars over US box office

LOS ANGELES - Agence France-Presse

This film publicity image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Henry Cavill as Superman in "Man of Steel." AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Clay Enos

Superman blockbuster "Man of Steel" soared to the top of the North American box office this weekend, scoring a $113-million opening despite mixed reviews, provisional figures showed Sunday.

The Zach Snyder-directed movie stars British actor Henry Cavill as the iconic superhero, with Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams playing Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane in a cast that also includes Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

The movie is the latest attempt to build a money-spinning franchise around the planet Krypton's most famous son, and follows a 2006 reboot by Warner Bros -- "Superman Returns" -- which ultimately stalled after one film.

Snyder's movie has divided critics however, scoring a modest 56 percent rating on the movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with many complaining of an over-reliance on computer-generated imagery against plot.

Meanwhile another new film, "This Is The End," a comedy starring James Franco and Jonah Hill, opened in second place with $20.5 million, figures from the industry tracker Exhibitor Relations showed.

Sleeper hit "Now You See Me," about an FBI agent and an Interpol detective who hunt down a team of illusionists performing bank heists during their shows, held on to third place with $10.3 million.

Action sequel "Fast & Furious 6," starring Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, added another $9.4 million, taking its outright haul to $219.5 million and positioning it in fourth place.

Low-budget horror film "The Purge" -- which scored a surprisingly strong opening last week to top the box office -- fell to fifth place with $8.2 million.

However, the $3 million Universal feature starring Ethan Hawke and "Game of Thrones" star Lena Headey has now earned a total of $51.8 million, with a sequel already in the works, according to industry reports.

In sixth place was the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy "The Internship," which sees the "Wedding Crashers" co-stars competing with tech-savvy wizards after scoring an internship at Google. The film took $7 million.
 
In seventh spot was animated film "Epic" with $6 million, just ahead of "Star Trek: Into Darkness" with $5.7 million, which has earned $210.5 million so far.

Another science-fiction offering, the critically-savaged Will Smith vehicle "After Earth" was ninth with $3.7 million.

Superhero sequel "Iron Man 3" rounded out the top 10 with $2.9 million in its seventh week, for a total of $399.6 million since its release in May.