Weekend Box Office: 'Sucker Punch' Gets Sucker Punched By a Wimpy Kid (Video)

Zack Snyder's fantasy action epic "Sucker Punch" was almost guaranteed to take the top spot this weekend at the box office, but it never expected to be knocked out by a wimpy kid.

The top earner this weekend was family film "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" as it opened to a cool $24.4 million, outdoing the original "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" which opened to $22 million last year. "Rodrick Rules" got the sequel bump, as audiences were already familiar with the movie in a weekend full of original projects. The movie cost only $18 million to make, so "Rodrick Rules" has already started making a profit.

The favorite to take the weekend, "Sucker Punch," earned less than expected with just $19 million. It had been ahead of "Rodrick Rules" all weekend, but "Sucker Punch" got, well, sucker punched at the last minute and fell behind. The film, which was directed by Zack Snyder ("300" and "Watchmen"), was hurt by scathing reviews from critics who panned it for a nonsensical (or nonexistant) story. The movie cost $75 million to make, so it will be tough for "Sucker Punch" to make a profit with such bad reviews and a mediocre audience reaction.

Last week's openers "Limitless" and "The Lincoln Lawyer" both fell about 18% from last week, earning $15.2 million and $10.9 million respectively. That places Bradley Cooper's "Limitless" at #3 and Matthew McConaughey's "The Lincoln Lawyer" at #4 for this weekend.

"Rango" came in at #5 with $9.7 million, and became the first movie of the year to pass $100 million domestically, along with the Adam Sandler comedy "Just Go With It."

Also notable this weekend were the expansions of a couple of critically-acclaimed indie films: "Jane Eyre" earned about the same amount as last weekend (just under $1 million) and the Paul Giamatti & Amy Ryan comedy "Win-Win" doubled its earnings over last weekend, grossing about $470,000.

Next weekend should see some big openings with sci-fi thriller "Source Code," animated Easter movie "Hop," horror flick "Insidious" and Rainn Wilson comedy "Super" hitting theaters.

1. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" - $24.4 million
2. "Sucker Punch" - $19 million
3. "Limitless" - $15.2 million
4. "The Lincoln Laywer" - $10.9 million
5. "Rango" $9.7 million

Watch the Trailer for "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules"

Watch the Trailer for "Sucker Punch"