It was a big weekend for the U.S Box office, with Monsters University and World War Z both posting big returns. The Heat, though, was possibly the biggest surprise, bagging an impressive $40m weekend.

Sandra Bullock
McCarthy and Bullock are best buds

Of the hands that changed some $40m to see the buddy cop film, 65% of which were female, showing that a break from the ‘manly’ Iron Man, Fast and Furious and Superman films was a welcome one. It was the biggest weekend for both Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock, who are being talked about to return in a sequel for the popular film.

Monsters University, though, had an extremely popular predecessor to fall back on, guaranteeing it an impressive opening day audience and bagging it the top spot. It followed that up with a second week total of $46.2 million, bring its 10 day total up to $171m. Disney’s first ever prequel was received fairly warmly by the critics, who decided that the first film was better overall.

Brad PittA long-haired Pitt entertains the crowd at the World War Z premiere

Another film in its second week, World War Z, managed a surprise $29.8 million to ramp up the total to $123.7 million. This, considering the mixed reviews and the troubles while shooting, is a great performance, and will probably inspire a further flurry of box office activity next weekend as the word gets out that it’s ‘actually quite a fun film’. Elsewhere, White House Down grabbed $25m to get fourth spot, and, in its third week, Man of Steel managed just over $20m to complete the top 5.