Man of Steel soars with $116m debut

Los Angeles - Superman blockbuster Man of Steel soared to the top of the North American box office this weekend, scoring a $116.6m opening despite mixed reviews, figures showed on Monday.

The Zach Snyder-directed movie stars British actor Henry Cavill as the iconic superhero, with Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams playing Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane in a cast that also includes Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

The production is the latest attempt to build a money-spinning franchise around the planet Krypton's most famous son, and follows a 2006 reboot by Warner Bros - Superman Returns - which ultimately stalled after one film.

Snyder's movie has divided critics however, scoring a modest 56% rating on the movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with many complaining of an over-reliance on computer-generated imagery.

The Purge

Another new film, This Is The End, a comedy starring James Franco and Jonah Hill, opened in second place with $20.7m, figures from the industry tracker Exhibitor Relations showed.

Sleeper hit Now You See Me, about an FBI agent and an Interpol detective who hunt down a team of illusionists performing bank heists during their shows, held on to third place with $11m.

Action sequel Fast & Furious 6, starring Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, added another $9.6m, taking its outright haul to $219.7m and positioning it in fourth place.

Low-budget horror film The Purge - which scored a surprisingly strong opening last week to top the box office - fell to fifth place with $8.3m.

However, the $3m Universal feature starring Ethan Hawke and Game of Thrones star Lena Headey has now earned a total of $52m, with a sequel already in the works, according to industry reports.

In sixth place was the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy The Internship, which sees the Wedding Crashers co-stars competing with tech-savvy wizards after scoring an internship at Google. The film took $7.1m.

In seventh spot was animated film Epic with $6.29m, a whisker ahead of Star Trek: Into Darkness with $6.26m. The eighth-placed film has earned $211.1m so far.

Another science-fiction offering, After Earth starring Will Smith, was ninth with $4.1m.

Superhero sequel Iron Man 3 rounded out the top 10 with $3m in its seventh week, for a total of $399.7m since its release in May.

* Man of Steel open in cinemas in South Africa on 28 June.