"Hulk" smash puny box office!

The weekend’s top-10 movies, courtesy of Media by Numbers:

1. The Incredible Hulk — $54.5 million
2. Kung Fu Panda — $34.3 million
3. The Happening — $30.5 million
4. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan — $16.4 million
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull — $13.5 million
6. Sex and the City — $10.2 million
7. Iron Man — $5.1 million
8. The Strangers — $4.1 million
9. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian — $3 million
10. What Happens in Vegas — $1.7 million

The openings for both the “Hulk” sequel/reboot and “The Happening” were fairly impressive. While “Incredible Hulk” didn’t best its 2003 predecessor, the earlier film fell off badly after its first week. So this newer film had to overcome some negativity.

And speaking of negativity, all of M. Night Shyamalan’s films since “The Sixth Sense” have experienced diminishing returns. So the first weekend for the R-rated “Happening” was surprisingly strong.

Meanwhile, DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda” continued to do well, despite heavy competition for box-office bucks. Again, it seems to suggest that there is an audience for more family-friendly entertainment.