Kevin Hart's 'Ride Along' Debuts No.1 At Box Office With Record Breaking Opening

The U.S holiday weekend has just passed and 'Ride Along' was the cinemagoers favourite as it sits at the No.1 box office spot on opening weekend. Universal's comedy film hit theatres this past Friday and has since earned $41.2 million, breaking the top-grossing movie record during MLK weekend.

The action comedy, that stars comedian Kevin Hart and Ice-Cube, is also crowned as the top-grossing Friday-Sunday January opener in history.

The film follows Hart, who plays an all-talk security guard called 'Ben Barber', Barber has to prove to 'James Payton' (Ice-Cube), an APD detective, that he is worthy of marrying Payton's sister Angela. To test Barber's competence, Detective Payton takes him on a 24-hour patrol, will his nerve hold?

The Associated Press reports, Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, said, "It certainly appears with business at this level and with a CinemaScore of A and our exit polls supporting that, it's safe to say we'll break a few records."

This is Hart's first starring role and he gained notoriety at the box office earlier this year when his stand-up movie, 'Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain', garnered a respectable amount of success.

Check out the 'Ride Along' trailer here

Although the 33 year-old has never had a leading role in a Hollywood movie, he has made several memorable cameos in recent years, such as 'Think Like a Man,' 'This Is the End' and 'Grudge Match.'

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak, said, "He's everywhere it seems. I know he was co-starring with Ice Cube in 'Ride Along,' but this really was marketed as a Kevin Hart movie. There's no question he's a movie star now who doesn't require any qualifications before his name."

Turn to the other page to check out which other films did well at this weekend's box office

Last week's No.1, Mark Wahlberg's Navy SEAL thriller 'Lone Survivor', dropped to the 2nd spot, earning $23.2 million. 'The Nut Job', an animated film that follows the friendship of a rat and squirrel, starring the voices of Will Arnett and Brendan Fraser, reached No.3 with $20.6 million.

Another debut, which was probably expected to do better, was 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit', starring Chris Pine and Keira Knightley, grossed $17.2 million to land in the 4th position. Rounding off the top 5 was Disney's huge animated flick, and Oscar nominee, 'Frozen' which earned $12 million.

See the top ten box office films below, calculated by Box Office Mojo:

1. Ride Along: $41.2 million

2. Lone Survivor: $23.2 million

3. The Nut Job: $20.6 million

4. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit: $17.2 million

5. Frozen: $11.97 million

6. American Hustle: $10.6 million

7. Devil's Due: $8.5 million

8. August: Osage County: $7.6 million

9. The Wolf of Wall Street: $7.5 million

10. Saving Mr. Banks: $4.1 million