Melissa Mccarthy - Identity Thief Steals the Top Spot with $36.6m at the Box Office

Identity Thief Steals the Top Spot with $36.6m at the Box Office

Beating the movie that propelled its star into the spotlight, Identity Thief starring Melissa McCarthy has beaten 2011's Bridesmaids in its opening days, scoring an impressive $36.6m over the weekend.

Despite largely poor reviews, Identity Thief has smashed expectations which, as MTV reports, were estimated between $20-30m rather than almost doubling the lower estimates. The number is particularly impressive given the horrendous snowstorm that ripped through the North East of the USA which would have certainly meant many people wouldn't have even been able to get to the movies. Identity Thief is about an exuberant identity thief (McCarthy) who steals the identity of a business man (Jason Bateman) who ends up losing his job because of the con. He then hunts down McCarthy wanting her to confess to her con to restore his life to normal.

McCarthy's performance wasn't criticized too much, it seemed the film as a whole just didn't work. Nevertheless, it might take something of a miracle to put her back in the goodbooks of critics. As the Hollywood Reporter wrote last week, she's got three new projects in the pipeline, so hopefully she'll claw back some brownie points there. The new projects are called; Michelle Darnell, Cousin Irv From Mars and Just Do It, an adaptation of the Douglas Brown memoir about he and his wife tried to rekindle their sex life after 14 years of marriage.