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For Tatum, this is one his biggest openings of his career, and comes on the heels of 21 Jump Street ($36.3 million opening, $94.2 domestic finish, $150 million worldwide) and The Vow ($41.2 million opening, $123.5 million domestic finish, $187 million worldwide). Tatum, as much as I hate to say it, is going to be a big star. This one also stars Mathew McConaughey, someone who I've ripped on for years in this column for making bad movie choices (Fool's Gold, The Wedding Planner – don't get me started). I should now be nicer to him, as he's made two good films now, back to back – with Magic Mike and The Lincoln Lawyer before it. Good or bad choices, McConaughey has put himself in some movies with strong legs. The Lincoln Lawyer earned a opening-to-total multiplier of 4.4. Tropic Thunder had a 4.3, while earned Sahara 3.8. Obviously, a lot of fans out for his films. It will be interesting if he can help the legs of Magic Mike, and somehow turn it into a phenomenon.

We are not done yet with the big numbers, as Pixar's Brave enjoys its second weekend. The animated film with the red-headed princess was coming off a solid $66.3 million opening weekend, and with questions around story structure and lower-than-usual critical reviews, many were watching the second weekend of Brave. In the end, Brave did okay, earning $34 million and dropping 49%, slightly higher than Pixar's usual. Non-sequel Pixar films released in summer have had varied second weekend drops, with the biggest being WALL-E at 49% and Cars at 44%, and the lowest being Finding Nemo and Up, at 34% and 35% respectively. This weekend for Brave is on the higher side for Pixar, but is by no means devastating. The $185 million Brave will end up just fine, likely earning $250 million domestically. Brave is just getting started overseas, but has a strong domestic gross so far of $131.7 million.

Finishing fourth is Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection, another in the long list of Madea movies. This is the first Madea released in summer, but the result wasn't much different. Perry's Madea films have had opening numbers ranging from $21.9 million for 2005's Diary of a Mad Black Woman to $41 million for Madea Goes to Jail. The average Madea film opening is about $28 million, but that rolls down to $25 million if we don't include Madea Goes to Jail. Madea's Witness Protection earned $26.4 million from 2,161 venues this weekend and had an average of $12,193. Witness Protection received the same abysmal notices that Perry always receives, but audiences keep flocking to see these movies, so Perry keeps putting them out. Perry will step out of his comfort zone in October, when he appears in Alex Cross for director Rob Cohen, in the role that Morgan Freeman made famous.

Fifth spot goes Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, which has wilted since Brave showed up. Now in its fourth weekend, Madagascar 3 earned another $11.8 million, but was down hard again this weekend, as it dropped 40%, not far off the 42% it dropped last weekend. Made for $145 million, Madagascar 3 has now pulled in $180 million domestically, and is well over $200 million from overseas grosses.

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