The weekend box office

As expected, Avengers: Age of Ultron dominated the box office for the second weekend in a row, pulling in numbers that would be the envy of most summer blockbusters’ opening three days. And while the only new release of the week faltered, it was a surprisingly strong week overall, with many of the films in the top 10 faring well despite facing one of the biggest movies of the year.

Like any holiday that sees families congregating together and then desperately seeking activities where they don't have to talk to each other for two hours, this Easter weekend saw a strong bump at the box office thanks to a few new contenders and a handful of holdovers with some surprising staying power.

With the exception of poor Katy Perry, everyone was a winner at the box office this week. Seriously. Of the top ten films, nine of them either opened well or held well, making this one of the most consistent weekends of the summer season. Filmmakers and studios: pat yourselves on the backs. You’ve earned this one.

When ‘Prometheus‘ opened big last month, there was the usual “Ah, so R-rated movies can perform well at the box office!” discussion that tends to happen every year or so. Well, that has nothing on this weekend, which found two R-rated movies topping the box office. And it’s not like ‘Ted‘ and ‘Magic Mike‘ just did okay either…both films opened big, blowing away expectations and leading the charge