Movie “Think like A Man” tops US box office

Comedy Think like A Man has knocked The Hunger Games off the top of the US box office chart.

Based on Steve Harvey’s dating advice book, it debuted with $33m (£20.5m) according to studio estimates, almost double what was expected.

Zac Efron drama The Lucky One opened at number two, taking $22.8m (£14.2m).

The Hunger Games, which had spent four weekends at number one, was pushed into third place, taking $14.5m (£9m). Its total US takings are $356.9m (£221.6m).

The movie, based on the first in a series of best-selling young fiction books, was the first film to spend four consecutive weeks at the top of the US chart since Avatar in 2009.

The film, set in a dystopian future which forces teens to fight to the death on TV, now has earned worldwide takings of $573m (£355m).

Disney’s nature documentary Chimpanzee opened in fourth spot with $10.2m (£6.3m).

The Three Stooges, now in its second week of release, rounded out the top five, with takings of $9.2m (£5.7m).

Sony’s number one movie, Think Like A Man, cost $13m (£8m) to make, earning nearly that on its opening day alone.

Studio executives had expected the film to make about $17m (£10.5m) over the whole weekend.

“It was a wild ride. It just got better and better as the night went on Friday. Then to be up so much on Saturday,” said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony.

Despite the film doing better than expected, overall Hollywood revenues fell for the second week in a row, down 5% from the same weekend last year.

Business is expected to improve early next month when Marvel superhero movie The Avengers is released over the first weekend in May.