SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Obsessed’ impressed

America liked it and they put a ring on it.

Beyonce’s new thriller “Obsessed” topped the domestic box office this weekend with $28.5 million, adding another impressive performance to the budding actress’s career. Impressive box office performance that is.

Whether or not Beyonce truly and gracefully inhabits the character of a woman forced to kick ass when some other crazy bitch starts stalking her man, I can’t be certain. This should easily make $70 million+ from a $20 million budget so all involved have just gotten a nice bonus.

Despite gunning for the same target audience, Universal’s “Fighting” also performed admirably and earned $11.4 million for third place. You can’t accuse them of not being straight to the point and enough males or teens must have thought that a movie called “Fighting” had to be bad ass and worth their $10. Channing Tatum’s career lives to fight another day.

Actual star power enters the fray at number four with “The Soloist.” Joe Wright’s once-Oscar hopeful earned $9.7 million, which is okay but not enough to justify moving out of the 2008 season. Even though audience reaction is bound to be positive, I just don’t see the legs being great here and a sub-$30 million finish won’t have anybody remembering these folks when ballots are due next year.

Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx were almost beaten by a polar bear and killer whale. Disney’s “Earth” grossed $8.6 million for the weekend and $14.2 million since opening on Wednesday on 1,804 screens. That’s the widest debut ever for a documentary and the second highest gross behind “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Since all you need is some cinematographers and a passport, you can bet that Uncle Walt will be bankrolling these nature documentaries for quite some time.

“17 Again” and “State of Play” both lost half their audience in week two, indicating that even more than usual, this is an “out with the old, in with the new” market. “Crank: High Voltage” dropped 66% to barely keep its place in the top 10. Only “Monsters vs. Aliens” showed any type of resiliance as the number one choice for kids and families out there.

Next week, everything changes. Ever since “Twister” opened in 1996, the summer movie season has officially kicked off on the first Friday of May instead of Memorial Day. This year, we get “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” doing the honors. Jackman has led the season twice before, with the $101.9 million debut of “X2” in 2003 and the $59.8 million of “Van Helsing” in 2004. It’s reasonable to assume that this one can fall somewhere in between but anything less than topping the $71.0 million of “Fast & Furious” would have to be considered a disappointment. I’m thinking $96 million.

Counter-programming arrives in the form of Matthew McConaughey being totally studly. Clearly when given the choice of superhero or misogynistic McConaughey, women will fall over themselves to choose McConaughey. On a side note, is this guy the unfunniest man to ever make a living out of the romantic comedy genre? Can that be a poll? Anyway, I joke, but the counter-programming will work and a $24 million debut for “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” is what I’m thinking.

One final film, the animated sci-fi “Battle for Terra,” gets a mini-wide release on 1,000 screens and won’t make the top 10. $2-3 million would be best case scenario for a genre that has birthed such bombs as “Treasure Planet,” “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within,” “Titan A.E.” and even “The Iron Giant.”

What do you guys think for “Wolverine?”  Here’s the weekend’s top domestic box office grossers, courtesy of Exhibitor Relations: