It was the only game in town, so Oblivion’s first place finish this weekend didn’t come as a shock. Universal’s sci-fi release had a solid debut – earning an estimated $38.1 million from 3,783 locations, or just under what G.I. Joe: Retaliation managed three weeks back. Oblivion also topped its initial domestic projection of $35 million, though the real strength of the Tom Cruise vehicle is overseas.

At this point, it’s surprising when DreamWorks Animation doesn’t make a sequel out of one of its properties.  While the studio was decidedly more nervous than usual for the release of last month’s prehistoric pic The Croods following the commercial disappointment of Rise of the Guardians, audiences flocked to the cavepeople-centric animated film.  The Croods’ worldwide box office total now stands at over $385 million, and THR reports that DreamWorks Animation has officially greenlit a sequel.

Writers/directors Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders will return for The Croods 2, and the studio is currently in negotiations with certain key voice actors to return as well.  The first pic boasts a voice cast that includes Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, and Ryan Reynolds, and we can reasonably expect a fair amount of the actors to come back.  Next on the DWA release docket is the snail racing pic Turbo this July, which also features the voice of Reynolds.

Evil Dead was the clear box office champ this weekend. The horror remake earned an estimated $26 million from 3,025 locations, or about $5 million more than originally projected. The weekend’s only other ‘new’ release was Jurassic Park 3D. With $18.2 million from 2,771 runs, the converted-classic fell to fourth behind the more-current 3D hit, The Croods.

The April box office is off to a promising start with the launch of Evil Dead. From 3,025 locations, the horror remake earned an estimated $10.1 million on Friday – including $1.8 million from its Thursday 10 pm and midnight screenings. Evil Dead will fall short of recent genre remakes like Friday the 13^th ($40.9 million); but the reboot of the 1983 cult-classic is already running ahead of projections and could realize as much as $28 million through Sunday. Jurassic Park 3D, the latest blockbuster to receive a digital makeover, took in a more modest $7 million from 2,771 locations. Though good enough for Friday’s second spot, the re-release is expected to fall behind G.I. Joe: Retaliation and The Croods on the weekend chart. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

For those who overlooked the record-breaking success of The Hunger Games one year ago, it was a great weekend at the US box office. Two of the three new releases exceeded expectations, with Olympus Has Fallen nearly doubling studio projections. Only the Tina Fey comedy Admission stumbled – barely topping what Spring Breakers brought in from half as many locations.

The nationwide expansion of Harmony Korine‘s Spring Breakers meant that I had the opportunity to catch the film last night at my local theater. We’ll talk a more specifically about our coverage of the film after the jump. For now, I’d like to make a futile attempt at encapsulating my feelings on the pic in the next few sentences. There’s a lot to like about Breakers whether it be the performances (James Franco‘s especially), the music, the slick editing and use of foreshadowing, etc. Nevertheless, for me this isn’t a movie that I “liked” as much as it’s one I respect. It’s beautiful, surreal, challenging, abhorrent, and vapid all at the same time. In other words, it’s art.

I could go on for days about the pic but that’s not why we’re here. In this week’s Top 5 we’ll take a look at our Breakers coverage, some Transformers 4 plot details, Olympus Has Fallen interviews with Gerard Butler and Antoine Fuqua just to name a few, a new trailer and poster for Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Croods interviews with Nicolas Cage and more. As is standard, a brief recap and link to each awaits after the jump.

Although the top ten films combined won’t match the debut of last year’s The Hunger Games, overall it looks like a good weekend at the domestic box office. Things look especially promising for DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods, which is on track for the second-highest debut of 2013 with over $40 million. In its first day in 4,046 locations, The Croods earned an estimated $11.6 million: just under the opening of DWA’s How to Train Your Dragon in March of 2010. In second place, FilmDistrict’s Olympus Has Fallen also looks strong. The R-rated thriller exceeded expectations on Friday with an estimated take of $10 million from 3,098 locations, and is now on track to top $25 million through Sunday. After setting records in just three theatres last weekend, Spring Breakers expanded into 1,104 venues yesterday and earned an estimated $2.1 million for fifth place. The only new release headed for trouble, in fact, is Admission. The comedy opened in sixth place and will fall short of $7 million from its 2,160 dates this weekend. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

Now playing is DreamWorks Animations’ The Croods. Directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), The Croods centers on a prehistoric family embarking on the world’s first  road trip through an uncharted, fantastical and dangerous world.  The film features the voice talents of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, Clark Duke, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman.  For more on The Croods, you can watch 8 clips here.

At the New York City press junket, I was able to speak with De Micco and Sanders.  We talked about how they started working together, how the film changed during the development process, how The Croods was originally set up at Aardman as a stop-motion animated movie, casting, technical challenges, whether Guillermo del Toro had any involvement with the film, their working relationship with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the film’s use of 3D, and updates on Hong Kong Phooey and How to Train Your Dragon 2.  Hit the jump to watch.

“Crude” is a half-appropriate description of DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods.  The word couldn’t apply less to the gorgeous animation, which not only paints a broad, beautiful canvas for the setting, but also revels in meticulous detail.  But the film’s sense of humor and thinly-drawn characters are rarely worthy of their magnificent surroundings.  Although the film doesn’t resort to fart humor (which DreamWorks Animation has never been hesitant to employ), it’s mostly slapstick that renders the characters’ need to survive less than compelling when they can be tossed 80 feet in the air and land with nary a scratch.  The story may preach about looking to tomorrow, but the tired story and themes are rooted firmly in the past.

Opening tomorrow is DreamWorks Animations’ The Croods. Directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), The Croods centers on a prehistoric family embarking on the world’s first  road trip through an uncharted, fantastical and dangerous world.  The film features the voice talents of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, Clark Duke, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman.  For more on The Croods, you can watch 8 clips here.

At the New York City press junket, I was able to speak with Cage.  While I’ve spoken to him a few times before this interview, for whatever reason, this is easily the best one by a mile.  We talked about making The Croods, how Jeffrey Katzenberg had tried to get Cage in other DreamWorks Animation movies before this one but he’d always said no, how he was waterboarded making The Croods (seriously), doing Get in the Cage with Nic Cage on Saturday Night Live, the importance of Action Comics #1 and how it was the best investment he’s ever made, Ghost Rider 3, National Treasure 3, and a lot more.  Trust me, you want to watch this interview.

Opening this weekend is DreamWorks Animations’ The Croods. Directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), The Croods centers on a prehistoric family embarking on the world’s first  road trip through an uncharted, fantastical and dangerous world.  The film features the voice talents of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, Clark Duke, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman.  For more on The Croods, you can watch 8 clips here.

At the New York City press junket, I was able to speak with Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone.  We talked about how the story and their characters changed during production, what surprised them both during the recording process, favorite video games, Reynolds Ted cameo, R.I.P.D., and I tried to get Stone to talk about The Amazing Spider-Man 2.  Hit the jump to watch.

We’ve got eight clips from DreamWorks Animations’ The Croods to share with you today. Directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), The Croods centers on the titular prehistoric family embarking on the world’s first  road trip through an uncharted, fantastical and dangerous world.  Featuring the voice talents of Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Nicolas Cage, Clark Duke, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman, The Croods opens March 22nd.  Hit the jump to watch all eight clips.

We have a round-up of new posters for you this morning.  Briefly:

• Snowpiercer – The first poster for the new film from Bong Joon-ho (Mother), which takes place on a train that never stops, as it makes its way through a futuristic world that is in the midst of an ice age.  The train is divided into classes, and the lower class is ready to revolt.  The film stars Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, and Ewen Bremner.  No release date has been announced.
• Olympus Has Fallen – Two new posters featuring the giant faces of Gerard Butler, who plays a disgraced Secret Service agent called back to duty when terrorists take over the White House, and Aaron Eckhart.  The film also stars Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, and Cole Hauser.  The film opens on March 22nd.
• The Croods – A couple of new posters for DreamWorks Animation’s caveman comedy, featuring the voices of Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, and Ryan Reynolds.  The film opens in 3D on March 22nd.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.

We’ve got a few new posters to share this afternoon.  Briefly:

• The Croods – A nifty motion poster for DreamWorks Animation’s caveman comedy, featuring the voices of Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, and Ryan Reynolds.  The film opens in 3D on March 22, 2013.
• G.I. Joe: Retaliation – The gang’s all here in this new poster for the upcoming sequel, starring Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, and more Channing Tatum.  The film opens in 3D on March 27, 2013.
• Zero Dark Thirty – An Australian poster for director Kathryn Bigelow’s awards-contending drama shows off a mosaic of the film’s many faces.  The pic is now open in limited release, and expands wide on January 11, 2013.
• Dark Skies – The first poster for this low-budget sci-fi thriller teases the film’s horror aspects.  The film stars Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton and opens on February 22, 2013.
• The Great Gatsby – A new banner poster for director Baz Luhrmann‘s ambitious adaptation that combines the previous character posters that have been hitting the web over the past couple of days.  The film opens in 3D on May 10, 2013.

Hit the jump to check out all the posters.

A new trailer for DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming film The Croods has been released online.  Written and directed by Kirk De Micco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon), the film takes us back to “a previously undiscovered era in the history of our planet” and centers on the culture clash between a family of cavemen and a more evolved young man named Guy (Ryan Reynolds).  This trailer is much more DreamWorks-y than the first teaser in that it relies heavily on physical comedy and gags.  That said, there are a couple genuine laughs to be found and the animation looks great.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer, and click here to read Dave’s recap from DreamWorks Animation’s recent sneak peek at their upcoming slate.  The film also features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman and Clark Duke.  The Croods opens March 22, 2013 in 3D.