The Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman grossout comedy Identity Thief may have been faced with some vitriolic reviews, but US audiences obviously didn’t care as the film significantly outperformed expectations, taking $36.5 million in its first three days in cinemas. It’s one of the best starts ever for an R-rated comedy, suggesting the film should have strong legs over the coming weeks.
The only other new entry in the top 10 was Steven Soderbergh’s pharmaceutical thriller Side Effects, which took $10 million over the weekend. It’s not a disaster but not a great start for a film with a cast including Channing Tatum, Jude Law, Rooney Mara and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It certainly suggests diminishing returns for Soderbergh’s brand of ensemble thriller, as it’s less than half of what Contagion took in 2011.
Top Gun 3D returned to cinemas but placed just outside the top 10. However it was only showing on 300 screens, so did pretty well to make $1.9 million (it’s per screen average was double that of Side Effects).
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of February 8th-10th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Identity Thief | $36.5 | $36.5 |
| 2 | Warm Bodies | $11.5 | $36.6 |
| 3 | Side Effects | $10.0 | $10.0 |
| 4 | Silver Linings Playbook | $6.9 | $90.0 |
| 5 | Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters | $5.7 | $43.8 |
| 6 | Mama | $4.3 | $64.0 |
| 7 | Zero Dark Thirty | $4.0 | $83.6 |
| 8 | Argo | $2.5 | $123.7 |
| 9 | Django Unchained | $2.2 | $154.5 |
| 10 | Bulllet To The Head | $1,9 | $8.1 |