Given a weekend free-and-clear of studio competition, Warner Bros. milked Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen for a $55.2 million debut, which would look great in either my bank account or yours, but has to be somewhat on the downside of fingers-crossed in-house projections. Either way, as Paul Dergarabedian probably pointed out in some talking-head quote, it’s the biggest ever opener for a R-rated film with giant blue wang, which has to at least give that planned big screen Smurfs flick some additional juice, and measure for creative license.

Placing second for the weekend was Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail with $8.5 million ($76.2 million overall); slotting third was Taken, with $7.3 million (an astonishing $118 million overall); notching fourth was Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire, from director Danny Boyle, with $6.8 million ($125.3 million overall); sliding to fifth was Kevin James’ Paul Blart: Mall Cop, with $4.1 million (and a sequel-baiting $133.6 million overall in eight weeks); slotting in sixth place was He’s Just Not That Into You, at $4 million ($84.6 million overall); placing seventh was the 3-D animated flick Coraline, with $3.3 million ($65.6 million overall); finishing in eighth was Confessions of a Shopaholic, with $3.1 million ($38.3 million overall); slotting ninth was something called Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience, with $2.8 million ($16.8 million overall); and 10th was Fired Up!, with $2.5 million ($13.2 million overall).