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Coming out on top. After earning fawning reviews from critics, Paul Feig's "Bridesmaids" outperformed its expectations, grossing $24.6 million instead of the $15 to $17 million that was predicted, reports The Hollywood Reporter. The film particularly did better than expected among males, who made up 33% of the audience. To put its earnings into context, "Bridesmaids" had an even better debut than Judd Apatow's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," which opened to $21.4 million in 2005.
But despite all the buzz, "Bridesmaids" was unable to topple "Thor" at the box office, which retained the number one slot with a gross of $24.4 million. "Fast Five" came in third with $19.5 million, making it the most successful film in the U.S. of the year thus far. That is everything you need to know about American cinema.
Rounding out the middle. The other major debut this weekend was "Priest 3D," the graphic novel adaptation starring Paul Bettany (the albino from "The Da Vinci Code," if you're unfamiliar with his oeuvre.) "Priest" had sinfully bad reviews, with New York Magazine calling it "an ungodly mess" and the Orlando-Sentinel dubbing it "about five beads shy of a rosary." But none of that seemed to matter, as it came out ahead of expectations with an estimated gross of $14.6 million.