SANTA MONICA, CA — Lionsgate, the leading next generation studio, emerged from a neck-and-neck box office race to claim the #1 spot with its action/comedy "Kick-Ass."  Director Matthew Vaughn's critically lauded, R-rated film took in $19,828,687 for the weekend, edging past the 3D animated family feature "How to Train Your Dragon."  The latest release in Lionsgate's Tyler Perry franchise, "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married, Too?," reached $54.8 million in its third week in release.  Lionsgate secured over 6,500 screens this past weekend, representing 16% of the North American marketplace.  

Based on the groundbreaking, best-selling comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., "Kick-Ass" stars Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong and Chloe Grace Moretz, and features Nicolas Cage.  The screenplay is written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman.  The producers are Matthew Vaughn, Brad Pitt, Tarquin Pack and Kris Thykier; Millar and Romita Jr. are co-producers.  Lionsgate acquired North American distribution rights for $15 million last year.  



Said Joe Drake, Lionsgate Co-Chief Operating Officer and Motion Picture Group President, "Kick-Ass is fantastic, highly original entertainment, and our marketing and distribution teams have brilliantly positioned it for a long and successful run.  That kind of run is precisely what we are seeing on the international front, where "Kick-Ass" has demonstrated a very strong hold at the box office; in Great Britain alone, it's taken in nearly $13.8 million in17 days."

Lionsgate's upcoming releases include: Robert Luketic's romantic comedy "Killers," starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, opening June 4; Sylvester Stallone's action/thriller "The Expendables," with an all-star cast including Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke, opening August 13; and Daniel Stamm's horror movie "The Last Exorcism," produced by Eli Roth ("Hostel"), starring Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell, opening August 27.