"The Dark Knight Rises" has finally been ousted from the top seat at the box office, thanks to "The Bourne Legacy," which brought in $40.3 million its opening weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"The Bourne Legacy" didn't quite reach the $45 million mark it was on track for after its Friday box office performance, but it did boast an accomplishment in its opening weekend: Despite the lack of Matt Damon, a new frontman -- Jeremy Renner -- carried this fourth "Bourne" film to the top spot. "The Bourne Legacy," directed by Tony Gilroy, not only proves that the franchise can survive without Damon, but that Renner can successfully carry the leading man role.
"If I'd been approached and asked to play Jason Bourne, it would have been a really easy 'no'. But this movie wasn't about filling Matt Damon's shoes," Renner told The Guardian. "It was a brand new canvas, and a brand new story. So the only pressure was to be able to perform in the style and physicality and ferocity of the action that had been established in the first three films."
Damon told HuffPost Entertainment that he just couldn't stick around for another "Bourne" installment. "The amount of stress that we were under and it was just nonstop for nine months -- in a kind of semi-panic. It was just a s----- feeling," he said. "[Dir. Paul Greengrass] turned to me on day 100 of the last Bourne movie we did ... and he just finally shook his head and he said, 'This just isn't fun.' And it wasn't."
Besides "The Bourne Legacy," it was a strong opening weekend at the box office for two other new films: "The Campaign" and "Hope Springs." "The Campaign," Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis' spoof on politics, debuted with $27.4 million, while Meryl Streep's latest "Hope Springs" opened with $20.1 million in its five-day debut weekend, THR reported.
"The Dark Knight Rises" fell behind "The Bourne Legacy" and "The Campaign" after taking the No. 1 spot for three weeks in a row. The film grossed grossed $19.5 million in its fourth weekend.
