'Oblivion' tops weekend box office

Tom Cruise’s post-apocalyptic thriller “Oblivion” wiped out the box office competition, racking up $38.2 million in weekend ticket sales during its North American debut.

The results exceeded pre-weekend forecasts for debut sales in the low- to mid-$30 million range, and earned Cruise his biggest opening since the “Mission Impossible” films.

“Oblivion” is set in 2077 and centers around the last humans on Earth. Cruise plays a man who repairs the drones that monitor the nearly empty Earth while its last human inhabitants search for a new home. Morgan Freeman co-stars.

“Oblivion” knocked “42” into second place. The Jackie Robinson biopic earned $18 million from Friday through Sunday after leading the charts a week ago.

In third place, animated Stone Age comedy “The Croods” earned $9.5 million during its fifth weekend in theaters, according to studio estimates. Global sales for the Dreamworks Animation production were estimated at $429.4 million through Sunday, according to distributor Twentieth Century Fox International.

Rounding out the top five were horror spoof “Scary Movie 5,” which grossed $6.3 million, and action sequel “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” which took in $5.8 million.