Weekend Roundup: Hulking its Way to First Place

By Katey Rich

The Incredible Hulk may have been the box-office champion this weekend, but the real story for me is The Happening, the dismally reviewed, poorly buzzed drama from M. Night Shyamalan that was roundly expected to flop spectacularly. Instead, it notched the second-best June opening for an R-rated movie with $30.5 million (Knocked Up, the R-rated champ from last summer, made $30.7 million). The take was good enough for second place, right behind last weekend's champ Kung Fu Panda, which made $34 million.

And even though Hulk was tops here at home with its $54 million bow, The Happening beat it overseas, helped by the fact that it was playing on nearly 2,000 more screens. This all means that, despite making a film that is mostly kindly described as "uneven," Shyamalan has bounced back from last summer's Lady in the Water, and may have another hit or two in him yet.

In the rest of the top ten, the holdovers continue playing pretty much according to expectations. The Adam Sandler comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan tumbled 57% from last week and came in at #4 with $16 million. Right behind it was Indiana Jones, which has moved ahead of Sex and the City ever since the female-driven comedy beat it out for the #1 spot two weeks ago. Indy made $13.5 million at #5, while Sex and the City lagged behind with $10 million. Indy, it should be noted, is flirting with the $300 million mark, while Sex zoomed past $100 million last week.

Heading toward $300 million as well is Iron Man, continuing to show strong legs and coming in at #7 this time around, with $5 million. It beat out the newer horror effort The Strangers, which is still hanging on impressively at #8 with $4 million. And finally, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is straggling with $3 million at #9, with What Happens in Vegas bringing up the rear with $1.7 million.

Once again, there's no real top 20 to speak of at Box Office Mojo, with so many tentpoles taking all the spoils for themselves. But outside the top 10 The Visitor keeps hanging on strongly, with $6.6 million to date, and Horton Hears a Who! perseveres despite competition from Kung Fu Panda. Plus Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Baby Mama are still kicking, all in the full chart after the jump.