While Melissa McCarthy was presenting at Sunday night's show, she also took back the #1 spot at the box office.
By Ryan J. Downey
Melissa McCarthy in "Identity Thief"
Photo: Universal Pictures
While Hollywood put their attention on the winners at Sunday night's Oscars, Melissa McCarthy managed to win back the box-office crown.
The "Bridesmaids" star was at the Dolby Theater presenting at the 85th Annual Academy Awards as numbers poured in to reveal that her "Identity Thief" had returned to #1 in theaters.
Featuring McCarthy in her first starring role, "Identity Thief" has become the first big hit of 2013. The movie opened with $34.5 million a few weeks ago and returned to the #1 spot over the weekend with another $14.1 million for a $93.7 million haul. McCarthy plays the title character in the film, opposite Jason Bateman, who re-teams with his "Horrible Bosses" director Seth Gordon. The pair recently told MTV News that they actually bloodied each other up for real during the movie's hilariously violent fight scene.
Just as many industry experts predicted, even the muscle of The Rock couldn't take down McCarthy. Dwayne Johnson's action drama "Snitch" had to settle for #2 with $13 million. While the movie's debut was soft, Johnson should take some comfort in the fact that it fared better than 2013 action flops from Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Statham.
The weekend's only other new film, the alien-filled horror flick "Dark Skies," failed to crack the top five. Despite coming from the same producer as the "Paranormal Activity" movies and "Insidious," "Dark Skies" was #6 with just $8.9 million.
"Escape from Planet Earth" was #4 with $11 million. The Nicholas Sparks adaptation "Safe Haven" was just behind it with $10.6 million, for an 11-day total of $48.1 million. Last weekend's #1 film, "A Good Day to Die Hard," fell to #5 with $10 million, bringing its domestic to $51.8 million so far. It's the worst-reviewed of the series that made Bruce Willis a movie star.
The coming week should see a boost for the Academy Awards winners still in theaters, many of which were already doing well. Best Picture winner "Argo," now on DVD and iTunes, had made nearly $130 million. Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Best Actor Oscar for "Lincoln," which has made $178 million. "Silver Linings Playbook," which earned Jennifer Lawrence her first, has made $107.4 million. Anne Hathaway won Best Supporting Actress for "Les Misérables," which stood at $146 million after the weekend. "Life of Pi" won several awards, including Best Director for Ang Lee, and has made $113 million. Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" is the biggest movie of his career with $158.8 million. Tarantino took him the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay; Christoph Waltz earned his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar — the first time was for his breakthrough role in another QT film, "Inglourious Basterds."
Overall, the weekend box-office tallied a soft $105 million, which was down 21.5 percent from the same period in 2012.
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