Weekend Box Office: 'Super 8' Surprises After Last-Minute Push

Original movies have it tough these days, especially during a summer like this one where every other movie that releases is a sequel. In fact, among the top five at the box office this past weekend, "Super 8" was the only movie that wasn't a sequel. That fact and some less-than-stellar tracking numbers before its release lead many to think that "Super 8" was going to fall short of its box office goals.

But they didn't account for a last-minute advertising push from Paramount. The studio teamed up with Twitter to launch a promo that offered sneak previews across the country, and released a viral video with footage from the movie and a glimpse of the alien monster.

So did it work? You bet it did! "Super 8" exceeded expectations thanks to that late push, pulling in an estimated $37 million for the weekend and taking first place by a wide margin. It's a promising start for one of the only big-name original movies this summer, and extra impressive since it wasn't adapted from any other source material ("Green Lantern" could be called original, but it's adapted from the comics).

Coming in second place was "X-Men: First Class," which grossed $25 million after a fall of only 55%, a strong hold that matches that of "X2: X-Men United." That brings the domestic total for "First Class" up to just under $99 million in its second weekend.

"The Hangover: Part II" continued to hold strong and fell only 41% to $18.5 million on the weekend. The R-rated comedy is holding surprisingly well for a movie that received such bad reviews, so it must be getting good word-of-mouth from audience members. "The Hangover: Part II" also flew past $200 million this weekend to settle at a domestic total of about $216.5 million.

Dreamworks' "Kung Fu Panda 2" came in fourth with $16.6 million for a domestic cume of $126.9 million, good news for the film that opened a bit on the soft side.

Fifth place went to "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," which continues to plunder the box office for $10.4 million over the weekend. The fourth installment in the "Pirates" series has also passed $200 million, landing it at just under $209 million domestically. That means that the impressive "The Hangover: Part II" grossed more domestically in three weeks than "Pirates" did in four.

This upcoming weekend sees the release of "Green Lantern," so expect another big one!

1. "Super 8" - $37 million
2. "X-Men: First Class" - $25 million
3. "The Hangover: Part II" - $18.5 million
4. "Kung Fu Panda 2" - $16.6 million
5. "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" - $10.4 million