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Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson’s Pain & Gain has topped this week’s US box office.

The Michael Bay-directed film opens with receipts of $20 million, which is one of the lowest opening weekend totals of Bay’s career to date. It knocks Tom Cruise’s science fiction blockbuster Oblivion from the top spot.

Last week, Oblivion gave Cruise his biggest opening weekend box office figures since 2006’s Mission Impossible III. Pain & Gain narrowly beats it this week despite takings of $17.4 million.

42 slips one place down to third in this week’s top ten, with The Big Wedding debuting at number four.

The star-studded romantic comedy – featuring Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl and Diane Keaton – opens with lower than expected numbers of $7.5 million.

Meanwhile, Dreamworks animation The Croods holds strong and keeps its place in the top five. Scary Movie 5 slips from four to seven in this week’s countdown.

Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper’s critically acclaimed The Place Beyond The Pines falls from six to nine, with Jurassic Park‘s 3D outing dropping to tenth place.

The US weekend box office top ten in full:
1. (-) Pain & Gain – $20,000,000
2. (1) Oblivion – $17,400,000
3. (2) 42 – $10,700,000
4. (-) The Big Wedding – $7,500,000
5. (3) The Croods – $6,600,000
6. (5) G.I. Joe: Retaliation – $3,600,000
7. (4) Scary Movie 5 – $3,500,000
8. (7) Olympus Has Fallen – $2,800,000
9. (6) The Place Beyond the Pines – $2,700,000
10. (9) Jurassic Park 3D – $2,300,000

Tom Cruise’s Oblivion has topped the US box office on its first weekend on release.

The science fiction blockbuster debuted to $38 million to top the chart ahead of baseball drama 42. Oblivion‘s opening haul is Cruise’s biggest opening since 2006’s Mission: Impossible III.

The Croods, DreamWorks’s latest animated movie, holds its place at number two, while horror spoof Scary Movie 5 slips down two places to four. GI Joe: Retaliation rounds out the top five.

Elsewhere, The Place Beyond the Pines is the biggest chart climber as it leaps up four places to number six. The Ryan Gosling drama expanded its theatre count and added $4.75 million to its box office takings on week four on release.

The US box office top ten in full (studio estimates):

1. (-) Oblivion – $38,152,000
2. (1) 42 – $18,025,000
3. (3) The Croods – $9,500,000
4. (2) Scary Movie 5 – $6,296,000
5. (4) GI Joe: Retaliation – $5,775,000
6. (10) The Place Beyond the Pines – $4,745,900
7. (7) Olympus Has Fallen – $4,500,000
8. (5) Evil Dead – $4,100,000
9. (6) Jurassic Park 3D – $4,000,000
10. (8) Oz the Great and Powerful – $3,048,000

After Earth will be released a week earlier than originally planned in the US.

The M Night Shyamalan film was originally slated for a June 7 US release date, but it will now open on May 31 Stateside, and in the UK on June 7.

Sony announced the news on Thursday (April 18), reports The Wrap.

Starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith, After Earth follows the father and son duo after they have crashed on Earth, a planet which humans were forced to escape 1,000 years ago.

The film also stars Zoe Kravitz and Isabelle Fuhrman.

Will and Jaden, who is also an aspiring rapper, previously starred together in the 2006 drama The Pursuit of Happyness.

Disney is planning to release a new Star Wars film every summer from 2015 to 2019.

The company, which acquired Lucasfilm last year in a multi-billion dollar deal, announced today at CinemaCon that JJ Abrams’ 2015 release Episode VII will be followed by Episodes VIII and IX in 2017 and 2019.

Standalone spinoffs are expected to be released in the years in between. Previous reports have suggested that these pictures could focus on Boba Fett and a young Han Solo.

Disney is said to be hoping that each of the spinoffs will form their own franchises and follow the success of X-Men and The Avengers.

There has been no announcement on who will work on the spinoffs so far, with the number of Star Wars live action movies now set to nearly double by 2019.

Star Wars Episode VII is being written by Toy Story 3‘s Michael Arndt, with Abrams, Kennedy and Bryan Burk producing.

Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi), Simon Kinberg and Lucas are on board as creative consultants.

Audiences for 3D films will decline in 2013, it has been predicted.

A report compiled by Fitch Ratings concluded that overall cinema attendance will drop this year due to both a lack of franchise films (compared to 2012) and audiences tiring of paying extra for 3D.

The projected decline would mark the first year 3D box office sales have dropped since the technology rose to prominence in 2009 off the back of Avatar‘s success, according to The Wrap.

“Attendance likely benefited from the initial proliferation of 3D films. However, the initial excitement has dwindled,” the report states.

“Consumers are focused again on the overall quality of the film and are weighing the cost of a premium ticket versus a base 2D ticket.

“Going to the movies remains one of the lower-cost forms of entertainment. However, increased pricing, particularly on 3D films, may erode this perception over time.

“Fitch views the expected film slate [for 2013] as favorable, but believes it will result in slightly weaker attendance compared to the 2012 film slate.”

3D box office takings in the US and Canada have previously remained steady, bringing in around $1.8 billion (£1.2 billion) for the past two years.

This year’s 3D releases include Star Trek Into Darkness, Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel.

Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained has been pulled from Chinese cinemas.

Screenings of the blood-soaked Spaghetti Western were cancelled minutes in on Thursday (April 11) due to “technical reasons”, reports Reuters.

Reports quickly surfaced online claiming that cinemagoers witnessed Django stop before being asked to leave the theatre.

“We got the notice from our headquarters around 10am this morning but it was too late to cancel two viewings,” said an official at a Shanghai cinema.

“We were only told that it was due to some technology problems and were told to cancel it. They didn’t tell us when the film would be shown again.”

Industry insiders have been quoted in the Chinese press as saying the film was pulled due to its nude scenes.

Tarantino had made adjustments to his original theatrical cut of Django, including muting the colour of on-screen blood, so that it could pass Chinese government censors.

Movie censorship body SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television) is yet to comment.

Evil Dead has debuted on top at the US box office, taking in $26m over the weekend.

Directed by Fede Alvarez, Evil Dead is a reboot of the 1981 film The Evil Dead, starring Bruce Campbell and directed by Sam Raimi.

Campbell and Raimi serve as producers for the new instalment, which stars Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez and Jessica Lucas.

Another Raimi film also remains on the top ten list. Oz The Great and Powerful slipped two spots down to number seven with $8.1m. Its total earnings are now $212.7m.

Last weekend’s number one and two films – GI Joe: Retaliation and The Croods – tied in second place, each earning $21.1m.

The Croods debuted at number one last month. Its total earnings are now $125.8m.

The new 3D version of Jurassic Park debuted in fourth place with $18.2m, while Olympus Has Fallen and Tyler Perry’s new film Temptations: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor took fifth and sixth place respectively. Olympus Has Fallen earned $10.04m, while Temptations took in $10m.

The Host, The Call and Admission complete the top ten list.

The top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (-) Evil Dead – $26 million
2. (1) GI Joe: Retaliation – $21.1 million
2. (2) The Croods – $21.1 million
4. (-) Jurassic Park 3D – $18.2 million
5. (4) Olympus Has Fallen – $10.04 million
6. (3) Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor – $10 million
7. (5) Oz The Great and Powerful – $8.1 million
8. (6) The Host – $5.2 million
9. (7) The Call – $3.5 million
10. (8) Admission – $2 million

Game of Thrones has been renewed for a fourth season.

HBO announced today (April 2) that another run of episodes will be filmed and shown next year.

The show is currently the network’s highest-rating programme.

Although it currently hasn’t been announced what season four will draw on from George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire saga, it is expected that material will come from the back half of the third book A Storm of Swords.

Martin previously announced that he would like to write more episodes. He has currently written three scripts for the drama but says his commitment to the original novels limits his involvement with the TV version.

He said: “There’s part of me that would like to be more involved with the television series – to write three or four scripts each season instead of just one.

“But I still have two gigantic books to write and I can’t possibly take off time to do that. So the books are my babies.”

Game of Thrones airs on HBO in the US on Sundays and on Sky Atlantic in the UK on Mondays.