Gnomeo, Gnomeo, Wherefore Art Thou Gnomeo?

It took three weeks, but the garden gnome-themed Shakespeare adaptation Gnomeo and Juliet finally made it to the top of the box office after spending its first two weekends at number three. It earned $14.2 million over the weekend, with a total gross so far of $75.1 million. In second place with $13.4 million was new release Hall Pass, in which two men are given the opportunity to engage in some extramarital shenanigans, but aren’t too pleased to discover their wives are doing the same thing. Coming in third was last week’s number one Unknown (weekend gross $12.4 million, total gross $42.8 million), while Just Go With It came in fourth (weekend gross $11.1 million, total gross $79.3 million) and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never slipped to number five (weekend gross $9.2 million, total gross $62.7 million).

Also just out is the Nicolas Cage vehicle Drive Angry 3D ($5.1 million), while fellow new releases The Grace Card ($1.0 million) and Of Gods and Men ($66,950) both featured a distinct lack of Nicolas Cage escaping from hell to drive around angrily, so good luck getting the attention of the Criterion Collection, guys.

Out next week and trying to take down Gnomeo and Juliet is fellow Shakespeare adaptation Anthony and Chia-Petra. Actually, that’s not true. Rango, The Adjustment Bureau, Beastly and Take Me Home Tonight are all out in wide release, while I Saw the Devil, Old Cats and Happythankyoumoreplease will all be out in limited release. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall his Past Lives will be released in New York City this Wednesday, and sure it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, but I’ll bet it has a limited number of Shakespeare puns.