LOS ANGELES: “Man of Steel,” the big-budget reboot of the Superman franchise, leaped over the apocalyptic buddy comedy “This is the End,” collecting a muscular $113.1 million to lead the domestic box office with the year’s second-largest debut weekend and the biggest June opening ever.
The Zach Snyder-directed movie stars British actor Henry Cavill as the iconic superhero, with Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams playing Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane in a cast that also includes Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.
The movie is the latest attempt to build a money-spinning franchise around the planet Krypton’s most famous son, and follows a 2006 reboot by Warner Bros — “Superman Returns” — which ultimately stalled after one film.
Snyder’s movie has divided critics however, scoring a modest 56 percent rating on the movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with many complaining of an over-reliance on computer-generated imagery against plot.
Meanwhile another new film, “This Is The End,” a comedy starring James Franco and Jonah Hill, opened in second place with $20.5 million, figures from the industry tracker Exhibitor Relations showed.
Sleeper hit “Now You See Me,” about an FBI agent and an Interpol detective who hunt down a team of illusionists performing bank heists during their shows, held on to third place with $10.3 million.
Action sequel “Fast & Furious 6,” starring Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, added another $9.4 million, taking its outright haul to $219.5 million and positioning it in fourth place.
Low-budget horror film “The Purge” — which scored a surprisingly strong opening last week to top the box office — fell to fifth place with $8.2 million.
However, the $3 million Universal feature starring Ethan Hawke and “Game of Thrones” star Lena Headey has now earned a total of $51.8 million, with a sequel already in the works, according to industry reports.
In sixth place was the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy “The Internship,” which sees the “Wedding Crashers” co-stars competing with tech-savvy wizards after scoring an internship at Google. The film took $7 million.
In seventh spot was animated film “Epic” with $6 million, just ahead of “Star Trek: Into Darkness” with $5.7 million, which has earned $210.5 million so far.
Another science-fiction offering, the critically-savaged Will Smith vehicle “After Earth” was ninth with $3.7 million.
Superhero sequel “Iron Man 3” rounded out the top 10 with $2.9 million in its seventh week, for a total of $399.6 million since its release in May.
