Weekend Box Office: Soft Openings for 'Green Lantern' and 'Mr. Popper's Penguins'

Not even the "Sexiest Man Alive" could save a critically panned superhero flick with a relatively unknown hero. Though "Green Lantern" took first place at the box office this weekend, it did so with a much softer opening than expected. The DC Comics movie pulled in an estimated $52.6 million, and while that number could change with a strong Father's Day haul, it's not likely to.

The numbers tell a telling story: "Green Lantern" opened to $21.6 million on Friday, but dropped more than 20% to bring in $17.1 million on Saturday. The movie currently holds a 25% on Rottentomatoes.com, which means the reviews are even worse than those of "The Hangover: Part II" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."

While Green Lantern is a character with a history going back to the 1940's, he is still not well-known to the general public. It seemed that Warner Bros. couldn't figure out whether they wanted to market to fanboys or the rest of the moviegoing public, so as a result the whole campaign seemed a bit dumbed down to fans and a bit outlandish to non-fans. Combine that with a clunky script, and you have a movie that only 11-year-old boys will enjoy.

On a more positive note, sci-fi original "Super 8" held strong in its second weekend with a drop of 40% to land at $21.2M. Good reviews and word-of-mouth helped the J.J. Abrams alien movie beat even a new release.

That means that poor "Mr. Popper's Penguins" didn't even place second in its opening weekend, pulling in only $18.2 million and placing third. With Jim Carrey starring along with a flock of sometimes-real, sometimes-CGI penguins, the movie seemed like it would be a solid release over Father's Day weekend. But poor reviews on Rottentomates (a 45%) kept it from performing as hoped. Carrey has always been box office gold, and even the slightly quiet "Yes Man" earned $98 million when all was said and done. We'll see if "Mr. Popper's Penguins" can get there, but with "Cars 2" releasing next weekend, it will be an uphill battle for the family crowd.

Two more holdovers placed fourth and fifth, as X-Men: First Class" drew another $11.5M for a total of $120 million and "The Hangover: Part II" gained another $9.6 million for a huge domestic total of $232.6 million. That, combined with the international total of $216.4M, moves the sequel past the original movie's cumulative total. As if that wasn't impressive enough, the worldwide grosses for both "The Hangover" and "The Hangover: Part II" together now add up for about $1 billion.

1. "Green Lantern" - $52.6 million
2. "Super 8" - $21.2 million
3. "Mr. Popper's Penguins" - $18.2 million
4. "X-Men: First Class" - $11.5 million
5. "The Hangover: Part II" - $9.6 million