Weekend Box Office: Bourne Legacy Hits Number One As Franchise Backslides

Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross in The Bourne Legacy
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Adding a fourth entry to the series The Bourne franchise hit some highs and lows this weekend. Landing a secure first place with $40 million, The Bourne Legacy saw the lowest opening for a Bourne movie since the first foray Bourne Identity bowed in 2002.

Legacy also had the highest price tag for an entry in the series so far, coming in on a budget of over $125 million. As the first entry to not prominently star internationally drooled-over Matt Damon, this may also prove to be the first to not turn a tidy profit. But don't blame rising action star Jeremy Renner. It may simply be he has arrived on the scene in a franchise that should have quit while it was ahead.

Coming in at number two was the teaming of Galifianakis and Ferrell, The Campaign. With $27 million the movie fared well for a rated-R comedy. The other new comer to the top ten, Hope Springs, complete with its own leading pair Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, settled for a $15 million fourth place.

Total Recall continued to spiral downward after a disappointing number two debut last week. Dropping almost 70% to $6 million this weekend, it not only slipped from second place to sixth, it showed a world-wide total take of just $71 million against its $125 million budget.

If your cinematic preferences run more towards quirky sports comedy, you might have been eagerly awaiting the debut of Nitro Circus the Movie 3D. But you would have been in a minority. Opening in 800 theaters it earned just $2 million for 13th place.

For the total top ten break down, check out the chart below:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
1.The Bourne Legacy *$40,265,000Total: $40,265,000LW: N WR: 1
THTRS: 3,745
Swipe to scroll horizontally
2.The Campaign *$27,440,000Total: $27,440,000LW: N WR: 1
THTRS: 3,205
Swipe to scroll horizontally
3.The Dark Knight Rises$19,540,000Total: $390,149,000LW: 1 WR: 4
THTRS: 3,690
Swipe to scroll horizontally
4.Hope Springs *$15,600,000Total: $20,053,000LW: N WR: 1
THTRS: 2,361
Swipe to scroll horizontally
5.Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days$8,200,000Total: $30,554,000LW: 3 WR: 2
THTRS: 3,398
Swipe to scroll horizontally
6.Total Recall (2012)$8,100,000Total: $44,188,000LW: 2 WR: 2
THTRS: 3,601
Swipe to scroll horizontally
7.Ice Age: Continental Drift$6,750,000Total: $144,064,000LW: 4 WR: 5
THTRS: 3,102
Swipe to scroll horizontally
8.Ted$3,290,000Total: $209,915,000LW: 7 WR: 7
THTRS: 2,208
Swipe to scroll horizontally
9.Step Up Revolution$2,850,000Total: $30,165,000LW: 6 WR: 3
THTRS: 1,898
Swipe to scroll horizontally
10.The Watch$2,200,000Total: $31,374,000LW: 5 WR: 3
THTRS: 2,461