The Jackie Robinson biopic 42 made history this weekend, scoring the all-time highest domestic opening for a baseball movie. From 3,003 locations, the film earned an estimated $27.2 million, or $7.5 million more than 2006’s Benchwarmers, the former genre title-holder. In second place, Scary Movie 5 earned $15.1 million from 3,402 runs, or just 37% of what Scary Movie 4 took in on this same weekend seven years ago.

42 was the undisputed box office champ on Friday, earning an estimated $9.1 million from 3,003 locations. That puts the Jackie Robinson biopic on track for as much as $28 million through Sunday – a record opening for a baseball movie. From a box office perspective, America’s pastime has never been a huge draw. Benchwarmers set the genre record in 2006 with its $19.7 million debut and, in 2011, Moneyball was a close second with $19.5 million. 42 – the story of the man who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947 – was not originally expected to top $20 million. But then positive reviews met a flood of nostalgic news-coverage and the rest, as they say, is history.

The debut of Scary Movie 5 was not-nearly as historic. From its debut in 3,402 locations, Scary Movie 5 earned an estimated $5.5 million. On this same weekend in 2006 Scary Movie 4 took in over $40 million; but after yesterday’s start, the fifth installment in the horror-spoof series won’t scare up half that amount.  We’ll have full details tomorrow.

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.

It was a record breaking Easter weekend debut for WB/Legendary’s much-hyped Clash of the Titans remake. The newly-christened 3D pic took in an estimated $61.4 million from 3,777 locations including 1,810 3D screens it managed to pilfer from Alice in Wonderland.