The comedy starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy led the North American session thanks to a $36.6m debut through Universal.

Last weekend’s champion Warm Bodies slid one place on $11.5m for $36.7m after two weekends and Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects starring Channing Tatum and Rooney Mara arrived in third place through Open Road Films on $10m.

TWC’s Silver Linings Playbook ranks fourth on $90m in its 13th weekend in release and Zero Dark Thirty in seventh place stands at $83.6m after eight.

Argo climbed three places to number eight in its 18th session and stands at $123.7m, while Lincoln has amassed $173.6m through Buena Vista after 14. Fox’s Life Of Pi fell one place to number 14 and after 12 weekends has grossed $108.5m. Paramount released Top Gun 3D in 11th place on $1.9m.

Music Box opened the second world war thriller Lore on $31,000 from six theatres and A24 released A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III on $12,000 from two.

This week’s wide releases are: Fox’s action title A Good Day To Die Hard starring Bruce Willis; Relativity’s romance Safe Haven; TWC’s animation Escape From Planet Earth; and Warner Bros’ drama Beautiful Creatures.

Estimated Top 10 North America Feb 8-10 2012
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (-) Identity Thief (Universal) UPI $36.6m –

2 (1) Warm Bodies (Summit) Summit International $11.5m $36.7m

3 (-) Side Effects (Open Road) FilmNation $10m –

4 (3) Silver Linings Playbook (TWC) TWC International $6.9m $90m

5 (2) Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters (Paramount) PPI $5.8m $43.8m

6 (4) Mama (Universal) UPI $4.3m $64m

7 (5) Zero Dark Thirty (Columbia Pictures) Panorama/Universal $4m $83.6m

8 (11) Argo (Warner Bros) WBPI $2.5m $123.7m

9 (8) Django Unchained (TWC) SPRI $2.3m $154.5m

10 (6) Bullet To The Head (Warner Bros) IM Global $1.9m $8.2m