The current trend in sequel box office returns is tied to perception. Gone are the days of diminishing returns as a rule, these are the golden times for franchises. How the general public feels about the franchise is now king, and the thing about feelings are, they can be changed.

Case in point, GI: Joe: Retaliation.

The franchise had a below average first film that left a sour taste in the mouths of cinema-goers. It did have a strong opening weekend and final total gross so a sequel was inevitable, but something had to be done to ensure the public perception didn’t bury the new film before it had a shot.

Warming the hearts of movie executives everywhere, GI: Joe Retaliation proved that franchise perception can be fixed and sequels to poorly received films have a shot to come out as strong as its predecessor without waiting on word of mouth or reviews to set in.

Well kudos to Taken 2, it was speculated in this very spot last week that the poor word of mouth and reviews would put a big dip into the action sequel’s take this weekend. The wrongness is strong with this one.

The Liam Neeson punch-fest held off the critical darling Argo for the top spot yet again in the box office trenches. The film brought in an estimated $22.5 Million over the three-day weekend with a relatively healthy dip of only 54.6%. For an R-rated action film with a built-in audience who presumably all went and saw it the first weekend, that drop is pretty strong.

Argo came up in second, with a still very respectable $20 Million weekend. The Affleck directed ‘incredible true story’ did about as well as a movie of this nature can reasonably expect to do, and with the heaps and heaps of love and positive word of mouth this film is getting it should play well for a few more weeks.

Ted has set the new standard for original R-Rated comedies, bringing in just over $54 Million dollars during the weekend. The Seth McFarlane directorial debut has established a record for comedies not based on an existing franchise, and led the pack of a very big box office weekend.

In addition to the big Ted weekend, Magic Mike came out strong for an R-Rated male stripper opus. The duel R-Rated comedies actually both over performed estimates to combine for an incredibly strong June weekend.

Magic Mike was able to capitalize on the fervent female movie going audience that was more than ready to swarm to the theater to see Channing Tatum swing his groove thing. Even though the film brought in a very respectable weekend number, it was very top-heavy, with more than half of its opening weekend coming from Friday alone.

Disney/PIXAR’s Brave rounds out the top three with another $34+ Million. The solid third place finish places the PIXAR film well on the path for another $200+ Million domestic total for the venerable animation studio. That said, the 48.7% drop represents a higher than normal number for PIXAR.

It is really unfair to be disappointed in a film because of bad casting luck early in its production. Alex Cross originally was meant to star the phenomenal Idris Elba as the titular detective, in what was supposed to be a more exciting and action oriented take on the character.

Then Mr. Elba had to back out and we got left with Tyler Perry. Now I don’t hate the films of Tyler Perry, I just never watch them. They are not made for me, so I don’t feel the urge to sit down with them. Perry was inoffensive enough in his brief role in Star Trek, so the news wasn’t immediately  loathsome.

Then this trailer hits, and all the regret and lament for what could have been comes rushing back. For the people who do not know what Alex Cross is all about, here is the synopsis:

After Washington DC detective Alex Cross is told that a family member has been murdered, he vows to track down the killer. He soon discovers that she was not his first victim and that things are now what they seem.

Despite the lead, the film has some fantastic actors, and the trailer makes it seem that most of them are on their A game.

Check out the new trailer after the jump.

After a weekend like this one, it goes to show that American audiences are still very much into the combat of war, soldiers in action lifestyle, as the real life battle movie Act of Valor made it to the #1 spot with $24 Million for the weekend.

With a production budget of only $12 Million, this is pretty impressive. Also impressive, the fact that Valor managed to nearly double Tyler Perry’s new film Good Deeds, which normally pull in pretty big numbers. Deeds only managed to make $16 Million for the weekend.

Also hitting this weekend, David Wain and Ken Marino’s comedy follow-up to Role Models, Wanderlust, had a pretty lame opening weekend with only $6.6 Million in over 2,000 screens. Is it the Jennifer Aniston curse? Maybe.