Fast Five Races to the Top of the Box Office

Fast Five pulled a fast one on naysayers who thought the combination of Vin Diesel, The Rock, fast cars and one of the most successful franchises of the past decade wouldn’t be enough to hit it big at the box office. The movie earned $83.6 million in its opening weekend, giving it the biggest opening weekend of 2011 so far. The previous record-holder was last weekend’s number one, Rio. The animated kid’s movie about a macaw who leaves behind his life of comfortable domestication when he falls for a free-spirited lady bird had an opening weekend gross of less than half of Fast Five‘s–maybe they should have had Dwayne Johnson voice a hawk or something.

This past weekend Rio was number two at the box office (weekend gross $14.4 million, total gross $103.6 million), with Madea’s Big Happy Family (weekend gross $10 million, total gross $41 million), Water for Elephants (weekend gross $9.1 million, total gross $32.2 million) and new release Prom (weekend gross $5 million) rounding out the top five.

Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil missed out on the top five, earning only $4.1 million in its first weekend. Other new releases were Dylan Dog: Dead of Night ($884,625), 13 Assassins ($40,200), Exporting Raymond ($36,010), Sympathy for Delicious ($9,200), That’s What I Am ($6,400) and The Arbor ($2,600).

Who could possibly take down the car-racing, drug lord-defying, punch-throwing might of Vin Diesel and company? Well, the Norse god of thunder might manage. Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth as the hammer-wielding diety, comes out next weekend. Other, punier movies competing against the awesome might of Thor’s hammer are Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed. A wide array of movies are hitting theaters in limited release, among them Last Night, An Invisible Sign, The Beaver, Forks Over Knives, Harvest, Hobo with a Shotgun, I’m Not Jesus Mommy, Caterpillar, Make Believe, Mother’s Day, Passion Play and There Be Dragons.