Battle at the Box Office 7/28

The Rock punching a lion was no match for Scarlett Johansson unlocking the full potential of her brain as Lucy handily won the box office over the weekend.

Lucy took in $44 million, which is on the high end for Luc Besson and Europa.  It wasn’t quite up to Taken 2 levels but it’s definitely a solid mid-level action opening.

The Rock, unfortunately, did not fare quite as well, making $29 million, lower than the opening of The Scorpion King, his first leading role, 12 years ago with $36 million but it is up from recent solo Rock movies like Snitch and Faster.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes dropped to third with another $16.4 million, putting it over $170 milion total.

The Purge: Anarchy and Planes: Fire & Rescue rounded out the top 5.

Trying to counter-program, the older skewing rom-com And So It Goes only made $4.6 million, good for 7th place.

A Most Wanted Man, one of the last movies to star Phillip Seymour Hoffman, opened in only 361 theaters but made $2.7 million and got into the top 10 in 10th place.