'The Fault In Our Stars' Outshines Tom Cruise's 'Edge of Tomorrow' At Weekend Box Office

“Edge of Tomorrow” throws its star Tom Cruise in an endless loop: marching out into a hopeless battle with an alien race, dying, and waking up to do it all over again the next morning. For the past decade, Cruise himself seems to have been stuck in the same loop, continuing to make action films like “Knight and Day” and “Oblivion” that dramatically underperform at the U.S. box office only to coast by on international dollars. “Edge of Tomorrow,” while earning critical favor, is following the same pattern at the box office.

In America, “Edge of Tomorrow” was a box-office disappointment. Despite extremely positive ratings from critics and early viewers, not many Americans turned up for the movie’s debut weekend, and the inventive sci-fi spectacle came in third place at the box office with $29.1 million, behind “Maleficent” at $33 million and “The Fault in Our Stars” with $48.2 million. That puts “Edge of Tomorrow” below Cruise’s previous film, the $120 million “Oblivion,” which underperformed with a $37 million opening and eventually took in $89 million in America. If Cruise’s most inventive film in years can’t beat his latest box office bomb, that could spell trouble for Cruise’s continuing prospects in America. Fortunately, while he still has the international box office on his side, he can expect to continue to get work.

Meanwhile, teen romance “The Fault In Our Stars” handily won the American box office thanks to legions of dedicated fans in love with the young adult novel the film draws on. Fans were so enthusiastic that many paid for the premium-priced premiere “The Night Before Our Stars” on Thursday, which offered a simulcast Q&A with the cast and “Fault in Our Stars” author John Green.

Despite the film’s incredible success in the U.S., however, “The Fault in Our Stars” took in a noticeably lighter $17 million on the international box office after opening in only 17 markets. Those numbers could still be bolstered on Friday as it debuts in 19 new markets including Germany and Switzerland.

Still, whether or not “The Fault in Our Stars” catches on with non-American audiences is pretty much a moot point. The film cost only $12 million to produce and has already raked in more than $65 million in its first weekend, a wildly successful ratio by any standard.

“Maleficent” also enjoyed a strong second-week showing over the weekend, taking in $33.5 million in America and $59 million overseas for a total gross of $335 million. “X-Men: Days of Future Past” fell to fourth place at the same time, taking in $14.7 million for a 55 percent drop from the previous weekend.

Though it doesn’t hit American theaters until Friday, “22 Jump Street” made its debut in the United Kingdom over the weekend with a strong $8.1 million, which Deadline notes is three times more than the original entry, “21 Jump Street,” grossed in its UK opening weekend. That increase could spell great things for the American release of the Channing Tatum-Jonah Hill sequel, the first installment of which grossed $138 million in America on a budget of $42 million.