Box Office Review: Summer's Here!

Last time I get in the jacuzzi with this dick. | Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

The summer box-office season officially began on May Day this year as X-Men Origins: Wolverine slashed its way to the top of the chart with a huge $87M weekend. Despite generally poor reviews (even from the fanboy set), audiences filled the seats to see Hugh Jackman don the sideburns once more. The dreadful Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was a distant second with $15.3M to best last week's winner Obsessed ($12.2M/$47M). After that it was the unfunny 17 Again ($6.3M/$48.4M) and the unsinkable Monsters vs. Aliens ($5.8M/$182.4M).

The second half of the top 10 was led by the sentimental The Soloist ($5.6M/$18.1M). After that it was the fine Earth ($4.1M/$21.8M), the silly Fighting ($4.1M/$17.5M), the satanic Hannah Montana ($4M/$70.8M) and the superb State of Play ($3.6M/$30.8M). The weekend's other wide release -- the ambitious but flawed Battle for Terra -- struggled to a 12th place showing ($1M) while the limited release crowd was headed by Jim Jarmusch's The Limits of Control ($18,067 per theater) and Michael Keaton's The Merry Gentleman ($3008).