‘2 Guns’ Shoots To The Top Of Weekend Box Office

Buddy-cop comedy “2 Guns” shot to the top of the box office this weekend with a total haul of $27.4 million, despite a slow weekend overall. Based on a comic book of the same name, “2 Guns,” with a $61 million budget, managed to recoup a lot of it in its first weekend. While the Denzel Washington-Mark Wahlberg teamup film slightly underperformed, it still managed to beat out the weekend’s other big-budget debut, “The Smurfs 2.”

Distributor Universal didn’t appear worried about “2 Guns” slightly underperforming. Instead, one of its executives praised the on-screen chemistry between Washington and Wahlberg as a couple of undercover cops. “It was super casting,” Nikki Rocco, Universal’s head of distribution, told the Associated Press. “There was remarkable chemistry. The two of them work so well together. You see it on screen. [Director] Baltasar [Kormakur] really gave them the energy to be able to do what they did in this film.”

In third place, “The Smurfs 2” made its debut with an unimpressive gross of $18.7 million, behind last week’s big-budget opener “The Wolverine.” The sequel to 2011’s “The Smurfs” premiered to abysmal reviews, earning only a 12 percent “Fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Meanwhile, smaller films such as “The Way, Way Back,” “Fruitvale Station” and “Blue Jasmine” continue to gain steam in limited releases nationwide. All three ranked in the top 15 this weekend after adding more theaters. Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” earned a particularly respectable $2 million this weekend while appearing in only 50 theaters across the country.

Check out the top 10 movies of the weekend below, according to Box Office Mojo:

1) “2 Guns” -- $27.4 million
2) “The Wolverine” -- $21.7 million
3) “The Smurfs 2” -- $18.2 million
4) “The Conjuring” -- $13.7 million
5) “Despicable Me 2” -- $10.4 million
6) “Grown Ups 2” -- $8.1 million
7) “Turbo” -- $6.4 million
8) “Red 2” -- $5.7 million
9) “The Heat” -- $4.7 million
10) “Pacific Rim” -- $4.6 million