'Identity Thief' steals the box office crown with the biggest opening of 2013

In its debut week, "Identity Thief" stole the box office crown according to results released on Sunday, Feb. 10.

It also took the weekend box office no. 1 position with the biggest opening of the year. That may not mean much, as it's very, very early in 2013, and there are blockbusters like "Man of Steel" still to come. That being said, considering that "Thief" took in about $10 million more than pre-release polling suggested, and that it debuted on a weekend with box office chilled by a blizzard, showed a lot.

"Identify Thief" co-starred McCarthy with Jason Bateman, and easily ran off with the weekend's no. 1 box office spot. The R-rated comedy took in $36.6 million according to an estimate by its distributor Universal Pictures. It easily beat "Mama," another Universal picture. Thhat horror film that debuted with $28.4 million in January.

"Warm Bodies," last week's top performer, took in $11.5 million in its second week. It raised its box office total to $36.7 million, just a tad above what "Identity Thief" took in for its first week.

In third position was the Steven Soderbergh-directed thriller "Side Effects," which is supposed to be his last movie (we'll believe it when it -- a new movie -- doesn't happen). It took in a disappointing $10 million, which was a sad take for a third place film. It showed the weakness of this week's box office, perhaps in part due to the aforementioned blizzard's effects, as the total take was down 45 percent year-over-year.

Academy Award-nominated for Best Picture, "Silver Linings Playbook" took in $6.9 million, down a spot from last week, raising its domestic total to $90 million after 13 weeks.

Rounding out the top five was "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters," down from second last week with a $5.8 million take at the box office. The film has a domestic total of $43.8 million after three weeks in theaters.

The other debut movie this week was "Top Gun 3D." The 3D re-release of the Tom Cruise thriller about F-14 fighter pilots came in at no. 11, taking in $1,900,000, but in only 300 theaters. That came to $6,333 per theater, which outdid anyone in the top ten save "Identity Thief."

The top 10 movies are listed below (LW = last week's ranking):

1. (N), Identity Thief,
2. (1 LW), Warm Bodies
3. (N), Side Effects
4. (3 LW), Silver Linings Playbook
5. (2 LW), Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
6. (4 LW), Mama, $4.3 millon, $64 million overall, 4 weeks
7. (5 LW), Zero Dark Thirty, $4 million, $83.6 million overall, 8 weeks
8. (11 LW), Argo, $2.5 million, $123.7 million overall, 18 weeks
9. (8 LW), Django Unchained, $2.3 million, $154.5 million overall, 7 weeks
10. (6 LW), Bullet to the Head, $2.0 million, $8.2 million overall, 2 weeks