“Magic Mike”, director Steven Soderbergh’s saucy male stripper comedy/drama, took off everything it could in order to dominate the box office over the weekend. Unfortunately for Mike, “Family Guy” mastermind Seth MacFarlane’s raunchy R-rated comedy “Ted”, starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, claimed the top spot with an amazing $54.1 million, which is the best opening ever for an original R-rated comedy. What’s more, the film has already recouped its production budget in just three days, an impressive feat by anyone’s standards. If someone told me that’s how the weekend was going to play out, I would laughed arrogantly whilst shaking my head. Of course, my prediction was completely wrong.

However, don’t let those numbers fool you, as “Magic Mike” didn’t do too bad, either. The risque flick managed to bring home an impressive $39.2 million, which is pretty good for a film that’s aimed at a very specific demographic. As I said last week, you should never underestimate the spending power of women who enjoy gawking at well-groomed, well-maintained men equipped with rippling muscles. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised it didn’t make more.

Tyler Perry’s “Made’s Witness Protection”, yet another entry in the writer/director’s neverending stream of Madea-related cinema, opened in fourth place with $26.3 million in sales. Last week’s other major release, the tear-jerking drama “People Like Us”, simply couldn’t compete with all of that big-screen comedy. The film, which stars Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks, opened in 10th place with $4.3 million. With all this heat, I guess people just wanted to laugh.

Disney-Pixar’s “Brave,” despite receiving lukewarm reviews from critics, continues to enjoy pulling money directly from the American family’s entertainment budget; the film snagged the third place position with $34 million. It’s animated competition, Dreamworks’ “Madagascar 3”, latched onto fifth place by selling $11.8 million worth of tickets.

Rounding out of the rest of the top ten are “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” ($6 million), “Prometheus” ($4.9 million), Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” ($4.8 million), and “Snow White and the Huntsman” ($4.4 million).

This week should prove interesting, as the highly-anticipated superhero flick “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Katy Perry: Part of Me”, and the Oliver Stone thriller “Savages” all make a concentrated grab for the mad money in your pocket.