The Incredible Hulk crushed M. Night Shyamalan's new film The Happening after taking an estimated $54 million at the US box office.
The superhero adventure, which stars Ed Norton, Liv Tyler and Tim Roth, is based on the famous comic book and tells the tale of a genetic scientist trying to struggle with the monster that lives inside him. It is Marvel Studios second box office hit this year after the recent success of Iron Man, and vindicates the comic book company's recent decision to film their own properties rather than sell them to other studios.
The Jack Black animated comedy Kung Fu Panda dropped to number two, taking $34 million.
And while The Happening didn't top the charts, it wasn't all bad news for Shyamalan - the Mark Wahlberg horror flick made a reasonable $30 million at the box office. Which despite its budget, rumoured to be around the $60 million region and being received lukewarmly by critics it could be considered a decent weekend for the director.
The Adam Sandler comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull were fourth and fifth respectively.