The theory that audiences would wait for the tentpole movies of July before opening their wallets went down in flames this weekend as two all-original movies (R-rated ones at that) delivered stellar openings. Ted and Magic Mike bested Brave by taking first and second place: nearly doubling their pre-weekend projections and giving box office watchers a lot more to consider than the imminent arrival of The Amazing Spider-Man.

While The Hunger Games and Bridesmaids picked up the most nominations for this year’s MTV Movie Awards, the Twilight fanbase continued to show they would vote online until their fingers bled.  At last night’s ceremony, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 took home “Movie of the Year” as well as Best Kiss for Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.  However, The Hunger Games and Bridesmaids didn’t go home empty-handed.  Melissa McCarthy won Best Comedic Performance for Bridesmaids (the cast also won “Best Gut-Wrenching Performance”), and The Hunger Games won golden popcorn buckets for Best Male Performance (Josh Hutcherson), Best Female Performance (Jennifer Lawrence), Best On-Screen Transformation (Elizabeth Banks), and Best Fight.

Hit the jump for a full list of winners, and click here to check out the footage from The Dark Knight Rises that played during the ceremony.

The Hunger Games cannot be stopped.  Director Gary Ross’s adaptation of the popular Suzanne Collins book took the top spot at the box office for the fourth weekend in a row with $21.5 million, bringing its domestic total to $337 million with a worldwide haul over $479 million.  Though Lionsgate is presumably extremely happy with The Hunger Games’ performance, they’re currently on the lookout for a director replacement for the sequel Catching Fire after Ross declined to return due to the tight schedule.  They have to start filming the follow-up this August in order for star Jennifer Lawrence to be wrapped in time to move on to the X-Men: First Class sequel in January, and to make Catching Fire’s November 2013 release date.  Hit the jump for details and analysis of the full top 10.

May the box office be ever in your favor! The Hunger Games outlasted competition from newcomers American Reunion and not-so-new Titanic 3D to top the box office for the third weekend in a row.  Hunger Games pulled in an estimated $33.5 million, a drop of about 43% from last week’s numbers, but still managed to cross a $400 million worldwide mark.   Second-week showings of Wrath of the Titans and Mirror Mirror rounded out the top five respectively. Hit the jump for the analysis, including a big mover who almost cracked the top ten.

It looks like The Hunger Games will be named the victor yet again on this fine Easter weekend, as the film brought in an estimated $12.9 million on Friday for a potential weekend haul of around $40 million.  The film has now crossed the $400 million mark worldwide against a budget of around $80 million, solidifying its status as a bona fide hit.  Lionsgate is working fast to get the sequel, Catching Fire, before cameras this fall (which Gary Ross may or may not be directing).  Elsewhere in the box office landscape, American Reunion opened to $9.2 million for a weekend total around $22 million, and Paramount’s Titanic 3D took in $7.1 million on Friday.  The re-release opened on Wednesday, so its cumulative is at $15.5 million and should fall short of the projected $30 million weekend, though James Cameron‘s original had famously strong legs in its initial run, so don’t count the disaster love story out just yet.  Additionally, 21 Jump Street has reason to celebrate as the ridiculously funny film has now hit $100 million cumulatively.  Check back tomorrow for details and analysis.

The worst-kept secret in show biz is out: The Hunger Games is a hit of record-breaking proportions.  From its 10,000 prints at 4,137 locations, the film earned an estimated $155 million this weekend, blowing away the previous March record of $116.1 million.  The figure also stands as the third-highest opening of all-time and the single highest debut for a non-sequel. Score one for breathless, wall-to-wall media saturation!

After the high drama of last weekend’s John Carter opening, this morning’s box office is a bit anti-climactic: a comedy that was expected to take first place took first place.  From 3,121 locations 21 Jump Street earned an estimated $35 million.  But, as the only wide release of the frame, Jump Street could not keep 2012 in the black by itself.  For the first time this year the overall box office came in slightly below 2011 levels. But hey, it was nice while it lasted.

From here on out, when I see a movie and can’t quit thinking about it one week after my initial viewing I’m going to refer to it as the Martha Marcy May Marlene effect. I was uncertain how I felt about it while watching. Flash-forward one week later and I’m still uncertain. Combine some great performances from Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes, reserved but effective cinematography, sparse dialogue and even fewer musical cues and what I got was one of the most paranoia-filled movie experiences I’ve ever had. While that may sound like a backhanded compliment, if writer/director Sean Durkin was trying to evoke the type of emotions I think he was with Martha, it may be the highest compliment I can pay him.

In this, the St. Patty’s edition of the “Top 5″, you can find 21 Jump Street interviews with Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube and more, The Avengers bits in which Joss Whedon discusses the pic, its current runtime, The Avengers 2, etc., Casa de mi Padre interviews with Will Ferrell, Nick Offerman and more, the first trailer and poster for Tim Burton‘s Dark Shadows, and all of our SXSW 2012 coverage. A brief recap and link to each ensue after the jump.

21 Jump Street is off to a very promising start – commercially and critically. Earning an estimated $13.1 million on Friday from 3,121 locations, the big screen adaptation of the former Fox TV series has also put up one of the most impressive Rotten Tomatoes scores of 2012 at 87% fresh.  As the only wide release of the weekend, box office watchers were pretty sure that the R-rated comedy was headed for number one, especially considering it stars two of the most popular young actors of this moment – Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.  With John Carter continuing to disappoint (off 60% from its less-than-stellar debut last weekend), the only challenge for Jump Street was conquering family-friendly holdover The Lorax.  21 Jump Street is now projected to take in $35 million this weekend; little wonder that a sequel is already in the works.  We’ll have details and analysis tomorrow.

21 Jump Street is going to surprise you.  Not only is it one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time, it’s got some great action and awesome performances from all involved.  If you had told me that the pairing of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would be comedy gold, I would have never believed you.  But it is.  Also, another big surprise was Ice Cube.  I’ve seen the film twice and both times he brings the house down with his almost everything he says.  Trust me, you want to see 21 Jump Street and I’d advise seeing it with a crowded theater.  It’s a blast.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s glowing review, Brendan’s set visit, a five-minute red band clip, and all our coverage on directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller‘s awesome movie.

Last week I got to speak with Hill and Tatum in New York City about their movie.  During the interview we talked about their outfits, when they first knew they’d be so good together, whether or not it was difficult for Tatum to keep up with Hill when he started to improvise, deleted scenes, karaoke, favorite movies, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for more.

21 Jump Street is going to surprise you.  Not only is it one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time, it’s got some great action and awesome performances from all involved.  If you had told me that the pairing of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would be comedy gold, I would have never believed you.  But it is.  Also, another big surprise was Ice Cube.  I’ve seen the film twice and both times he brings the house down with his almost everything he says.  Trust me, you want to see 21 Jump Street and I’d advise seeing it with a crowded theater.  It’s a blast.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s glowing review, Brendan’s set visit, a five-minute red band clip, and all our coverage on directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller‘s awesome movie.

Last week I got to speak with Rob Riggle in New York City about the film (he plays one of the teachers at the High School).  During the interview we talked about how he got cast, the table reads, how things changed a long the way, karaoke, his favorite director, actor and movie, and the importance of just going for it in a comedy.  Hit the jump for more.

Normally, we post informative PSAs every Sunday, but today we have a special one for you to check out. If you’re still not convinced that 21 Jump Street is a hilarious, must-see movie after all the clips, trailers, interviews and reviews we’ve posted, maybe this new PSA will help to change your mind. And if you pay attention, you might learn a thing or to that could maybe save your life. But probably not. Regardless, fresh-faced cops Schmidt and Jenko are here to educate you on the dangers of finger blasting. 21 Jump Street starring Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum and Ice Cube opens March 16th. Hit the jump to watch the hilarious PSAs.

21 Jump Street is going to surprise you.  Not only is it one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time, it’s got some great action and awesome performances from all involved.  If you had told me that the pairing of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would be comedy gold, I would have never believed you.  But it is.  Also, another big surprise was Ice Cube.  I’ve seen the film twice and both times he brings the house down with his almost everything he says.  Trust me, you want to see 21 Jump Street and I’d advise seeing it with a crowded theater.  It’s a blast.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s glowing review, Brendan’s set visit, a five-minute red band clip, and all our coverage on directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller‘s awesome movie.

Last week I got to speak with Lord and Miller in New York City about their movie.  During the interview we talked about how everyone loves the film, when they first knew that Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would be so good together, deleted scenes, extended cuts, what will be on the Blu-ray (20 deleted scenes and 45 minutes of jokes!) what’s up with their Lego movie, and their favorite movies, actors and directors.  Hit the jump for more.

21 Jump Street is going to surprise you.  Not only is it one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time, it’s got some great action and awesome performances from all involved.  If you had told me that the pairing of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would be comedy gold, I would have never believed you.  But they are.  Also, another big surprise was Ice Cube.  I’ve seen the film twice and both times he brings the house down with his almost everything he says.  Trust me, you want to see 21 Jump Street and I’d advise seeing it with a crowded theater.  It’s a blast.  For more on the film, here’s Matt’s glowing review, Brendan’s set visit, a five-minute red band clip, and all our coverage on directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller‘s awesome movie.

Last week I got to speak with Ice Cube at the New York City press junket.  During the interview he talked about how he got involved in the project, did his character change during the shoot, karaoke, and his favorite movie, director and actor.  In addition, Cube gave me an update on the next Friday sequel and addressed whether or not Chris Tucker will return.  He told me, “There’s a lot of movement. I’m writing the script right now, so we worked out a deal with New Line. The ball is rolling. We invited everybody back and we’ll have a fun movie.”  Hit the jump for more.

21 Jump Street is cocky as hell.  Usually, when a movie clearly lays out a set-up for an eventual payoff, we groan, lament the story’s predictability, and all the impact is diminished because we saw the hit coming.  21 Jump Street comes up to the line of turning directly to the camera and saying, “This will come back later,” and the joke still manages to hit like a sucker punch.  The set-up-pay-off humor is just one weapon in the film’s arsenal.  Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller effortlessly move between the cartoonish, the absurd, the darkly comic, the vulgar, and almost every time the jokes absolutely kill.  But the excellent lead performances from Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum elevate the film from a raucous comedy, and they make 21 Jump Street not just a film where two bike cops mime having sex with an apprehended perp.  It’s a film with a heart, a soul, and two bike cops miming having sex with an apprehended perp.