'Identity Thief' back at No. 1 in 3rd week

Hollywood's latest films performed tepidly at the box office on Oscar weekend, with Melissa McCarthy's "Identity Thief" returning to the top spot in its third week of release, The Associated Press reports.

The Universal comedy earned $14.1 million on the weekend, according to studio estimates yesterday, enough to regain the box-office title after losing it last week to 20th Century Fox's "A Good Day to Die Hard." The Bruce Willis action sequel faded domestically, but not overseas, where it took in $35.7 million.

With a cumulative total of $93.7 million, "Identity Thief" is the biggest hit so far in 2013. Though the film has been badly reviewed by critics, the road trip duo of McCarthy and Jason Bateman has proved popular at the multiplexes, where no other comedy has been around to challenge it.

More than anything, "Identity Thief" has proved the stardom of McCarthy, following her breakout performance in "Bridesmaids."

"The holding power of a film always gives you an idea of the strength of its concept or its star," said Nikki Rocco, Universal head of distribution. "In this case, it's both."

One of the two new films in wide release, Lionsgate's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson action film, "Snitch," opened with $13 million. That was a decent but not strong showing for "Snitch" in a year where action films have largely fared poorly.