Gossip & Gists: [Box Office] 'Other Woman' Exacts Revenge With $9.3 Million Friday

The Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann comedy topples "Captain America: Winter Soldier" from the top spot at the North American box office; the late Paul Walker's action pic "Brick Mansions" on course for modest debut.

"The Other Woman"

Fueled by females, 20th Century Fox's comedy The Other Woman topped the Friday box office with a strong $9.3 million from 3,205 theaters for a projected $25 million weekend.

That's enough to unseat blockbuster Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which has been No. 1 for three consecutive weekends. Winter Soldier grossed $4.5 million Friday from 3,620 locations to come in No. 2. The superhero tentpole should earn between $15 million and $16 million for the weekend, putting its domestic total north of $222 million.

Directed by Nick Cassavetes, Other Woman stars Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton as three women determined to expose a philandering husband. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Nicki Minaj and Taylor Kinney also star in the $40 million movie, which earned a B+ CinemaScore.

The Other Woman is also prospering in Australia, where it opened last weekend opposite The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The female comedy debuted to $4.2 million for the weekend, compared to $5.2 million for Spider-Man 2 but pulled ahead of the superhero tentpole on Wednesday. It came in No. 1 Thursday and Friday as well.

Spider-Man 2 has still earned more overall through Friday ($9.2 million), but Other Woman has grossed an impressive $8.6 million. The Other Woman opens in an additional 28 foreign markets this weekend.

Brick Mansions, the late Paul Walker's second-to-last film before Fast & Furious 7, is looking at a more modest U.S. opening after taking in $3.6 million Friday from 2,647 theaters. The action pic is projected to earn $9 million-plus through Sunday, putting it at No. 5 behind Other Woman, Winter Soldier, Heaven Is For Real and Rio 2.

From Luc Besson's EuropaCorp and Transfilm International, Brick Mansions cost $28 million to make. Relativity, which is releasing the action movie in the U.S., worked closely with Walker's team and family during the marketing process. The film, written by Besson, was a passion project for Walker, who died in November 2013 in a fiery crash while on break from shooting Fast & Furious 7.

Brick Mansions, set in a dystopian Detroit and earning a B+ CinemaScore, is an English-language remake of the French film Banlieue 13 and stars Walker as an undercover cop who teams with an ex-convict to save their city from destruction. David Belle reprises his role as the ex-convict.

In honor of Walker's memory, Relativity and EuropaCorp have made a donation to his charity, Reach Out WorldWide.

The weekend's third new nationwide player, The Quiet Ones, is doing underwhelming business. The horror film earned only $1.5 million Friday from 2,027 locations for a projected $3.6 million weekend. Audiences gave the film a C+.

From Lionsgate and Exclusive Media, Quiet Ones was directed by John Pogue and stars Jared Harris, Sam Claflin and Olivia Cooke. The movie, set in an estate outside London, revolves around a university president and a team of students who conduct an experiment on a young girl with unspeakable secrets.

Johnny Depp's ill-fated sci-fi epic Transcendence is falling more than 60 percent in its second outing, and is expected to earn only $4 million for the weekend, putting its domestic total at less than $19 million.