Jack The Giant Slays The Box Office Competition

By Bill Wine

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - There's a new box office leader at the nation's multiplexes. Jack the Giant Slayer was a box office behemoth.

The re-imagined fairytale adventure climbed its way to an easy first-place finish on its debut weekend by earning an estimated $28-million.

Last weekend's box office leader, Identity Thief, dropped to second with a total of just under $10-million.

Another new attraction, 21 and Over, the coming-of-drinking-age comedy, was third with $9-million.

And the weekend's third new mainstream release – the horror sequel, The Last Exorcism, Part II – finished fourth with $8-million.

Among the Oscar contenders, only Silver Linings Playbook placed in the top ten, taking in another $6-million and finishing eighth on a weekend when only one movie cleared the $10-million mark.