Box Office: 'Oz' Rules, But Which Film Won the Battle for Second Place?

Wondering why there has been so much chatter lately about an Oz the Great and Powerful sequel? Check the box office receipts.

Sam Raimi’s dazzling prequel to The Wizard of Oz added $42.2M over the weekend, taking the top slot at the box office and holding off a pair of newcomers with A-listers in their ensembles. Oz has now earned more than $145M in the U.S., and has raced past the $281M mark worldwide (with plenty more international markets still to open the fantasy feature).

Why is Oz performing so well? Families likely are looking for decent options, because Jack the Giant Slayer kind of disappoints. (The Croods should bite into some of Oz’s momentum when it opens next week.) Oz also has name recognition, with audiences looking to relive the magic from the original movie.

There was very little “magic” for the magician comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, which only earned an estimated $10 million and opened behind Halle Berry’s 911-operator thriller The Call. With all due respect to the drawing power of the Oscar winner, raise your hand if you are surprised that Berry's film beat a comedy with Steve Carell and Jim Carrey.

And after a very successful run, Identity Thief showed signs of slowing down, shifting from third place last weekend to fifth place this weekend. Still the duo comedy has banked $123M to date, making it one of the biggest hits of this still-early year.

Here’s the full Top 10 list for the weekend:

MOVIE / WEEKEND / TOTAL