Kick-Ass Ends Up Winning Its First Week at the Box Office!

Lionsgate, the leading next generation studio, emerged from a neck-and-neck box office race to claim the #1 spot with its action/comedy Kick-Ass. Director Matthew Vaughn's critically lauded, R-rated film took in $19,828,687 for the weekend, edging past the 3D animated family feature How to Train Your Dragon. The latest release in Lionsgate's Tyler Perry franchise, Why Did I Get Married Too?, reached $54.8 million in its third week in release. Lionsgate secured over 6,500 screens this past weekend, representing 16% of the North American marketplace.

Based on the groundbreaking, best-selling comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., Kick-Ass stars Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong and Chloe Moretz, and features Nicolas Cage. The screenplay is written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman. The producers are Matthew Vaughn, Brad Pitt, Tarquin Pack and Kris Thykier; Millar and Romita Jr. are co-producers. Lionsgate acquired North American distribution rights for $15 million last year.

Said Joe Drake, Lionsgate Co-Chief Operating Officer and Motion Picture Group President, "Kick-Ass is fantastic, highly original entertainment, and our marketing and distribution teams have brilliantly positioned it for a long and successful run. That kind of run is precisely what we are seeing on the international front, where Kick-Ass has demonstrated a very strong hold at the box office; in Great Britain alone, it's taken in nearly $13.8 million in 17 days."