North American box office: Zac Efron is your god

I said last week that if 17 Again were to duplicate in North America its huge opening weekend in the U.K. -- where it opened a week earlier -- it would have to earn $26 million. And it came darn close.

I’m guessing that Zac and Miley Cyrus split the audience, because Hannah Montana took a big drop in its second week of nearly 60 percent, which does not bode well for any long-term success, particularly with the summer blockbusters almost upon us: even if the kiddies wanted to keep checking it out, it’s gonna get crowded from the multiplexes by the other superwide releases on the horizon.

Observe and Report took a big tumble in its second week, too, dropping 62 percent, which is hardly surprising: it’s much darker than its marketing led audiences to believe, and people don’t like dark.

I wonder if Lionsgate regrets not screening Crank: High Voltage for critics. Because those of us who went to see it over the weekend anyway have graded the flick 65 percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but it debuted way down at No. 6, taking in only $6.9 million. It might have done better if the word that it’s worth seeing had gotten out earlier. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays next weekend, when it has only the bland- and generic-looking Fighting as its close competition.

Milestones this weekend: Monsters vs. Aliens passed $150 million. Fast & Furious passed $125 million. Hannah Montana and The Haunting in Connecticut both passed $50 million.

Overall business was up 15 percent over last year.

[numbers via Box Office Mojo]