Warner Bros. Pictures’ Focus debuted in first place last weekend with $18.69 million. However, the romantic heist film starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie did perform a bit below expectations. Focus opened a lackluster 32 percent below the $27.52 million start of 2013’s After Earth, though it should be noted that Focus was far less expensive and will likely hold up significantly better after opening weekend. With that said, the debut of Focus further suggests that Smith’s drawing power at the box office is nowhere near the level it once was.

Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith, left) is an extremely accomplished con man who takes an amateur con artist, Jess (Margot Robbie), under his wing in Focus. (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)

It was a tight race for spots two through five last weekend, as second place and fifth place were separated by just $1.68 million.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service took in $11.88 million to claim second place for a third consecutive weekend. The Matthew Vaughn directed graphic novel adaptation starring Colin Firth was down 35 percent from the previous weekend. Kingsman: The Secret Service continues to inch closer to the $100 million domestic mark with a stronger than expected 17-day take of $85.83 million.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water held steady in third place with $10.82 million. Thanks in part to facing no new direct competition for family audiences, Paramount Pictures’ 3D animated film stabilized nicely last weekend, as it was down 35 percent from the previous weekend. The SpongeBob Movie continues to exceed expectations with a strong 24-day take of $139.94 million.

After leading the box office each of the previous two weekends, Fifty Shades of Grey fell three spots to land in fourth place with $10.56 million. Universal Pictures’ successful erotic romantic drama was down 53 percent from the previous weekend, but showed relative signs of stabilization after the previous weekend’s massive decline. While it’s proving to be very front-loaded, Fifty Shades of Grey has grossed a very strong $147.39 million in 17 days.

The Lazarus Effect debuted in fifth place with $10.20 million. The low-budget PG-13 rated horror film from Relativity Media had been widely expected to open slightly higher, but was still off to a solid start given its cost. It should also be noted that online activity levels before the film’s release were soft by horror film standards.

Disney Studios’ McFarland, USA held up nicely in its second weekend, as it was down just 29 percent to place in sixth with $7.84 million. The sports drama starring Kevin Costner continues to perform on the high end of expectations with $22.02 million in 10 days. That places the film 14 percent ahead of the $19.36 million 10-day take of last year’s Draft Day, which fell 42 percent in its second weekend to gross $5.71 million. Last weekend’s hold is a strong sign for McFarland, USA going forward.

Warner Bros.’ American Sniper continued to hold up very well with a seventh place take of $7.39 million. The blockbuster Clint Eastwood directed Best Picture nominee starring Bradley Cooper was down a slim 26 percent from the previous weekend. American Sniper has grossed a massive $330.82 million to date and is now on the verge of surpassing the $336.72 million current total gross of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 to become the highest grossing release of 2014 domestically.

The DUFF also held up well last weekend with an eighth place gross of $6.87 million. The low-budget PG-13 comedy from CBS Films and Lionsgate was down 36 percent from the previous weekend’s stronger than expected debut. The DUFF continues to exceed expectations with $19.77 million in 10 days.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Prisoners topped the box office last weekend (Sept. 20-22) with a $20.82 million take. The thriller starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal debuted on the high end of pre-release expectations. Prisoners was helped out by the relatively little competition, mostly positive reviews and the drawing power of Jackman and the rest of the cast as a whole. Prisoners will have a good chance of holding up well going forward, though doing so isn’t a lock given the upcoming competition for adult audiences throughout the rest of September and October.

Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano in a scene from Prisoners. (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Insidious Chapter 2 fell one spot to land in second with $13.80 million. FilmDistrict’s successful low-budget horror sequel was down 66 percent from its opening weekend. Insidious Chapter 2 has grossed $60.16 million in 10 days. But it is expected to play well in the coming well thanks in part to opening well before Halloween and the limited amount of horror options this fall.

Relativity Media’s The Family also dropped one place to finish third last weekend with $7.00 million. After a respectable start last week, the Luc Besson directed film starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer experienced a 50 percent decline its second weekend. So-so word of mouth and competition from Prisoners for adult moviegoers appear to have taken a toll. The 10-day start for The Family stands at $25.64 million. It will likely continue to fall quickly given the previously mentioned competition for adult moviegoers.

Sony Picture’s Battle of the Year was off to a rocky start with a fifth place take of just $4.60 million. The modestly budgeted 3D dance film from Screen Gems featuring Josh Holloway and Chris Brown opened below modest expectations and performed poorly for a dance film in general. Sony continues to have a tough go of it lately, as Battle of the Year joins the growing list of recent domestic under-performers for the studio. which also included The Mortal Instruments, The Smurfs 2, White House Down and After Earth. However, things should turn around for Sony in a big way next weekend with the release of the highly anticipated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.

Meanwhile, Universal Picutre’s Rush was off to solid start with $187,289 from five locations in New York and Los Angeles. Rush, which was directed by Ron Howard and stars Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl, will hope to be aided by its strong critical reviews when it expands into wide release on Friday.

Superman was reborn at the box office as the big-budget gamble Man of Steel cleared the box office its opening weekend in a single bound clearing $116.6M in a single bound. Warner Bros.’ comic book relaunch broke the record for the biggest June opening ever, according to final studio figures for the weekend of June 14-16. Toy Story 3 held the June record since 2010 with $110.3M.

Henry Cavill stars as Superman in Man of Steel (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.)

Directed by Zack Snyder, Henry Cavill takes on the title role in the movie that also features an Oscar-caliber cast including Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Michael Shannon and Laurence Fishburne. Christopher Nolan, who successfully rebooted the Batman franchise for the studio, produced Man of Steel. Much of the film’s story involves Superman’s two dads from Krypton and Earth and how they molded him, perfect for the Father’s Day weekend.

Opening far behind in second place was the new doomsday comedy This is the End from Sony with $20.7M over three days and $33M since its Tuesday night launch. It was a respectable opening especially considering the distraction Clark Kent had over the target audience of young men. The raunchy R-rated comedy stars Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Jay Baruchel.

Holding steady in third place was Lionsgate’s heist thriller Now You See Me with $11M, down 42 percent, for a robust total to date of $80.7M. The top-grossing installment of the franchise, Universal’s Fast & Furious 6 followed with $9.6M dropping 51 percent pushing the domestic tally to a muscular $219.7M. Last week’s top film The Purge plunged 76 percent to $8.3M. The micro-budgeted $3M movie has nonetheless raked in a healthy $52M in 10 days for Universal. The Fox comedy The Internship fell 59 percent in its second weekend to $7.1M putting the Vince Vaughn-Owen Wilson flick at a disappointing $31.1M.

The summer’s most notable flop so far, Will Smith’s critically panned father-son sci-fi adventure After Earth, fell 62 percent to $4.1M for a lousy $54.5M total to date for the pricey $130M gamble. Flirting with the quadruple century mark, Iron Man 3 rounded out the top ten with $3M in its seventh weekend, down 49 percent.

The action sequel Fast & Furious 6 held onto the top spot at the North American box office despite decelerating sharply. But it was Will Smith who crashed and burned as his big-budget sci-fi action pic After Earth was rejected by paying moviegoers proving that the once-bulletproof star is no longer invincible. In fact, it was beaten out for the number two spot by the magician heist thriller Now You See Me which posted a strong debut beating expectations.

Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco star in Now You See Me. (Summit Entertainment)

Six movies in and the Fast and Furious franchise finally scored its first hit to top the charts over back-to-back weekends. Vin Diesel’s latest action entry tumbled by 64 percent to $35.2M in its second week, which was enough to beat all rivals. After 10 days, the Universal hit has grossed a stellar $171M, up 22 percent compared with the pace of its 2011 predecessor Fast Five, which ranks as the top-grossing installment of the series — for now.