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.

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.

As expected, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, wound up on top this weekend. The action sequel earned an estimated $41.2 million from 3,719 locations, or $51.7 million including its Thursday debut. In terms of Easter openings, that is the second-highest ever, behind the $61.2 million of 2010’s Clash of the Titans. Tyler Perry’s Temptation was also a draw, leaving The Host the only new release to struggle over the 2013 Easter frame.

Before I dive into the main topic of this week’s opening paragraph, just a quick disclaimer that the Top 5 will be taking a week off next Saturday to accommodate the first, and perhaps only, trip to Hawaii I will ever take. Here’s to hoping it’s less awkward but equally as life-changing and Kristen Bell/Mila Kunis-filled as Forgetting Sarah Marshall depicted. That said, while it fell just short of the cut this week, I still want to draw attention to the first trailer for director Adam Wingard‘s You’re Next that debuted on Thursday. As a horror fan, I’m always excited when a new entry in the genre gets lauded from both sides of the aisle (horror fans and those who aren’t as giddy about movies that make them think twice about turning out the lights). As far as I’m concerned, August 23rd can’t get here soon enough.

All Hawaii and horror fanboy talk aside, this week’s list offers up the first trailer(s) for The Wolverine, interviews with Dwayne Johnson and more for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the first trailer and posters for White House Down, a new red-band trailer for Pain & Gain, and The Host interviews with Saoirse Ronan and more. As you’re probably expecting, a brief recap and link to all of the above can be found after the jump.

After opening to an estimated $10.5 million on Thursday (including $2.2 million from Wednesday night previews), G.I Joe: Retaliation was the easy winner at Friday’s box office. The long-delayed sequel to 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra earned a reported $15.5 million from 3,719 locations; putting it on track for a first-place weekend finish of $38 million. That would make Retaliation the third-highest Easter debut of all time, behind Clash of the Titans and 2006’s Scary Movie 4.

Opening one day after Retaliation, the weekend’s two additional new titles fell short of holdover hit The Croods. Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor earned an estimated $9.4 million from 2,047 locations towards a projected first-weekend of $22 million: a debut comparable to Perry’s past Easter releases. Playing in fewer theatres, Temptation still crushed The Host. Based on Stephanie Meyer’s 2008 sci-fi novel, The Host earned $5.5 million from 3,202 locations on Friday and is expected to claim less than $15 million through Sunday.  We’ll have full details tomorrow.

Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation is now playing in theaters.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum,  D.J. Cotrona, Elodie Yung, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, RZA and Adrianne Palicki.  For more on the film, here’s clips, images, on set interviews, and all our previous coverage.

Last weekend, I sat down with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura for an extended interview.  Over the past few days we’ve posted what he said about Jack Ryan and Red 2, an adaptation of the Vince Flynn novel American Assassin and the true story Deepwater Horizon.  But that was just the tip of the iceberg, because we also talked about making G.I. Joe, the nine-minute dialogue-free action sequence featuring Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes, the 3D post conversion, changes from the first film, the rumored reshoots, what it was like to film at NASA, how involved Hasbro is with the project, and what he’d like to see in G.I. Joe 3 if they make it.  In addition, we also talked about how the collapsing home video market has changed the way movies are made, the lack of risk-taking with regards to the material that studios are choosing to make, the difficulty of selling sci-fi and the key to landing audience interest, whether he’s read any great scripts recently, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation is now playing in theaters.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum,  D.J. Cotrona, Elodie Yung, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, RZA and Adrianne Palicki.  For more on the film, here’s clips, images, on set interviews, and all our previous coverage.

A few days ago, our partners at Omelete spoke with Johnson.  They talked about the 3D conversion, why they pushed back the release date, working with Jon Chu, the fight sequences, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation is now playing in theaters.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum,  D.J. Cotrona, Elodie Yung, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, RZA and Adrianne Palicki.  For more on the film, here’s clips, images, on set interviews, and all our previous coverage.

Last weekend, I sat down with screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick for an extended interview.  Over the past few days we’ve posted what they said about their Zombieland pilot, the Deadpool movie, and their take on Venom.  However, that was just the tip of the iceberg because during the interview we also talked about making G.I. Joe, the nine-minute dialogue-free action sequence featuring Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes, the 3D post conversion, changes from the original G.I. Joe, landing the job, and other future projects like an HBO series, a sci-fi tent-pole for Sony, Universal’s Cowboy Ninja Vikings, and Bad Robot’s Micronauts.  Hit the jump to watch.

If you’re going to make a movie designed to sell toys, you may as well show how much fun it is to play with them.  Although almost none of the original characters remain, G.I. Joe: Retaliation continues the spirit of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra by happily embracing big vehicles and weapons to deliver set pieces on steroids that never feel overbearing.  It’s not a particularly smart movie or one with compelling characters, but without any irony it takes one of the villain’s lines to heart: “America likes the guy who blows stuff up.”

Opening tomorrow is director Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum,  D.J. Cotrona, Elodie Yung, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, RZA and Adrianne Palicki.  For more on the film, here’s clips, images, on set interviews, and all our previous coverage.

A few days ago at the Los Angeles press day I spoke to Palicki and Cotrona.  We talked about Paramount’s decision to delay the film for a 3D conversion, the rumors that they did a lot of reshoots, what it was like to film at NASA,  their reaction to the finished film, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Paramount has partnered with Gallery 1988 and artist Anthony Petrie for a very special poster to commemorate tomorrows release of Jon M. Chu’s G. I. Joe: Retaliation, and we’ve got four of the 100 copies to giveaway to some of our readers. If you’d like more info on the poster and how to win one… meet me after the jump.

Opening this Thursday is director Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum,  D.J. Cotrona, Elodie Yung, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, RZA and Adrianne Palicki.  For more on the film, here’s clips, images, on set interviews, and all our previous coverage.

While some had issues with the first G.I. Joe movie, most would agree the casting of Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow and Ray Park as Snake Eyes was dead on.  So when Paramount decided to make the sequel and bring in a lot of new actors, I was extremely happy they kept Lee and Park.  The other day I did an exclusive phone interview with Lee to help promote the film.  We talked about his reaction to the finished film, 3D, the action sequences, what it was like having the world premiere in Korea, his preparation process, Red 2, doing action scenes with Bruce Willis, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Opening this Thursday is director Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The sequel’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum,  D.J. Cotrona, Elodie Yung, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, RZA and Adrianne Palicki.  For more on the film, here’s clips, images, on set interviews, and all our previous coverage.

A few days ago at the Los Angeles press day I spoke to Chu.  We talked about Paramount’s decision to delay the film for a 3D conversion, the 9 minute action sequence with no dialogue, deleted scenes, what will be on the eventual Blu-ray, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Paramount has released a hefty reel of behind-the-scenes footage from director Jon M. Chu’s sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  The follow-up’s story finds the Joes disbanded and outnumbered as they must square off against not only the Cobras, but also threats within their own government.  Dwayne Johnson is front and center as Roadblock, and he’s flanked by newcomers Adrianne Palicki as Lady Jaye, D.J. Cotrona as Flint, and Bruce Willis as the OG Joe.

Hit the jump to watch the footage, and if you missed any of Steve’s set visit coverage be sure to check out 25 things to know & video blog recap, along with his interviews with Dwayne Johnson, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, Elodie Yung, D.J. Cotrona, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Jon M. Chu.  G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens in 3D on March 28th.