While it didn’t come close to matching the recent debuts of Batman, Iron Man, and The Avengers, Zack Snyder’s reboot of the Superman franchise Man of Steel set a new June weekend box office record with an estimated 3-day total of $113.1 million (this total does not include the $12 million the movie earned at the Wal-Mart tie-in screenings on Thursday), eclipsing the previous record of $110 million set by Toy Story 3.  The new Superman epic accounted for 60% of all box office admissions in North America and helped raise the total domestic box office take 51% over the same frame last year when Madagascar 3 topped the box office for a second straight week.  Sony’s post-apocalyptic "R-rated" comedy This Is the End also debuted well, earning $20.5 million over the 3-day period.
 
Man of Steel also set a June debut record for North American IMAX theaters, which accounted for 12% of the film’s domestic take, while 3-D showings (including IMAX) brought in 42% of the total dollars (but only 32% of the admissions, further evidence that American audiences don’t like paying a premium for 3-D, though it must be said that it is the increasingly important foreign box office that is behind the continuing vogue for the extra-dimensional in Hollywood).  The new Superman film posted the second best opening of 2013 so far behind only Marvel Studio’s Iron Man 3, though it should be noted that Man of Steel’s debut was far behind IM3’s record-setting $174.1 million.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): June 14-16, 2013
	Film		Weekend Gross		Screens		Avg./ Screen		Total Gross	Wk#
1	Man of Steel	$113,080,000		4,207		$26,879		$125,080,000		1
2	This is the End	$20,500,000		3,055		$6,710		$32,800,000		1
3	Now You See Me	$10,320,000		3,082		$3,348		$80,009,000		3
4	Fast & Furious 6	$9,433,000		3,375		$2,795		$219,574,000		4
5	The Purge	$8,201,000		2,591		$3,165		$51,845,000		2
6	The Internship	$7,000,000		3,399		$2,059		$30,951,000		2
7	Epic	$6,000,000		3,151		$1,904		$95,429,000		4
8	Star Trek Into Darkness	$5,660,000		2,331		$2,428		$210,491,000		5
9	After Earth	$3,750,000		2,432		$1,542		$54,200,000		3
10	Iron Man 3	$2,908,000		1,649		$1,763		$399,610,000		7

Man of Steel’s nearly 18% drop from $44 million on Friday to $36.4 million on Saturday is more likely a testament to Warner Bros.’ skillful and ubiquitous marketing efforts than to the audience’s reaction since the movie earned a solid "A-" CinemaScore from its debut weekend crowd--a better result than the film received from critics, who collectively gave the film a mediocre 56% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  As might be expected for a superhero film, the opening weekend audience was primarily male (56%) and older (62% over 25). 
 
Snyder’s film is off to a strong start overseas, where Bryan Singer’s 2006 Superman Returns earned just $191 million.  Man of Steel has earned $76.1 million from overseas openings in 24 countries in just one weekend, and appears to be poised for a major jump over its predecessor in the fast-growing international market. 
 
Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures will need Man of Steel to follow through on its solid debut both here and abroad.  With an admitted cost of $225 million and millions more spent advertising the film around the globe, the new Superman movie will have to earn well over half a billion dollars at the box office just to break even.  On the domestic front the new Supes saga will face stiff competition for the mainstream audience with the debut of World War Z and White House Down on the next two weekends.  Adjusted for inflation the five-day debut total of Singer’s Superman Returns, which was widely perceived as a failure, would be equivalent to $102 million today.  Man of Steel has brought in $125 million over four days, so it is doing considerably better, but perhaps with the rebooting of a franchise it is the perception of the property that counts for more than the initial film’s actual box office. 
 
Man of Steel’s solid opening is good news for Warner Bros. and DC Comics, who desperately needed a second successful screen superhero franchise now that Batman is being retooled.  Like Snyder’s Man of Steel, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins was also a solid, rather than a spectacular performer, earning $205.3 million domestically (and $374.2 million worldwide) in 2005, but Nolan’s two Batsequels were billion-dollar behemoths.  Can Warner Bros. keep the creative team of Man of Steel intact and put the franchise on an arc that follows that of Nolan’s Batman movies?
 
Meanwhile it appears that we might have a winner in the "R-rated" comedy of 2013 summer sweepstakes in the "pot-apocalyptic" farce This Is The End, which features the marijuana-infused hipster cast of Pineapple Express facing 2013’s most popular dilemma, the end of the world as we know it.  Does the success of This Is the End, which has earned $32.8 million since its release on Wednesday, mean that the whole post-apocalyptic thing has jumped the shark?  The producers of World War Z, Elysium and numerous other upcoming films certainly hope not.
 
Critics loved This Is the End giving it an 85% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences were a little more reserved giving the film a borderline positive “B+” CinemaScore.  With a fairly open field over the next few weeks, This Is the End could cement the already strong position of the “R-rated” comedy as a potent bit of summer counter-programming that can withstand the mightiest superhero assaults.
 
Third place went to the magician/caper film Now You See Me, which earned an estimated $10.3 million to bring its 3-week total to $80 million.  Fast & Furious 6 slipped to fourth during its fourth weekend during which the film posted a new worldwide high for the franchise with $638.9 million.
 
Last week’s surprise winner The Purge plunged a mammoth, but expected (for the high concept found footage micro-budget genre) 76%, but still managed to add $8.2 million and bring its total to $51.9 million, not bad for a film that cost just $3 million to make.  Also posting a big drop was the foundering Google-centric comedy The Internship, which fell 60% in its second weekend.
 
Another major disappointment Will Smith’s post-apocalyptic After Earth plummeted 65% as it fell to 9th.  The $130 million production will be lucky to finish with $60 million in domestic box office, and it isn’t doing great business overseas either.
 
J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness slipped to 8th during its fifth weekend in theaters.  So far it has earned $210 million domestically and looks to finish under $225 million. The film has earned $201 million overseas, and will need a strong finishing kick to finish in the black.
 
There are no such worries for Shane Black’s Iron Man 3, which finished its seventh weekend in the top ten with $399.6 million.  Next week IM3 will become the first 2013 film to earn more than $400 million domestically, and it remains the film to beat in the race for the highest-grossing film of 2013.
 
Check back next week to see if World War Z, the zombie epic starring Brad Pitt that has to rank as one of this summer’s riskiest blockbusters, can unseat Man of Steel.