“Jack the Giant Slayer,” the first big-budget action film of the year, was anything but a killer at the weekend box office.

“Jack,” a retelling of the “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairy tale, earned the No. 1 spot on domestic box office charts with $28 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters on Sunday. But that was an underwhelming start for a 3D movie that cost $189 million to produce, plus tens of millions more to market.

“Jack the Giant Slayer” also grossed $13.7 million from 1,824 screens in 10 Asian markets.

Comedy “Identity Thief” took in $9.7 million to capture second place and new adult comedy “21 and Over” finished in third place on domestic charts with $9 million in ticket sales from Friday through Sunday.

Low-budget horror sequel “The Last Exorcism Part II” took the No. 4 slot with $8 million, according to studio estimates.

“Jack” clearly was not a great opening by any means, said Phil Contrino, vice president/chief analyst with Boxoffice.com.

“But I wouldn’t rush to call the film a financial flop just yet because overseas growth can really save a movie, and I feel that this is a movie that could do really well in other territories and make up for the fact that the North American haul was a little bit underwhelming.”

The movie stars Nicholas Hoult as a young farmer who ventures into the land of the giants to save a kidnapped princess. The film received a mixed reception from critics. As of Friday, 49 percent of reviews recommended the movie on aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

Warner Bros. believes “Jack” will perform well in overseas markets as it opens in more countries in the coming weeks. International sales, particularly for action movies, can run twice as high or more.

“It was within the range of our expectations,” Jeff Goldstein, vice president theatrical distributions at Warner Bros., said about the film’s domestic weekend performance.

“We know that this is a global picture and the technology and the special effects will really drive this movie internationally,” he added.

“Jack the Giant Slayer” was produced by Time Warner Inc-owned Warner Brothers and Legendary Entertainment, which partnered with Warner on hits including “The Dark Knight” trilogy and “The Hangover” series.

Two of last year’s films with bigger budgets flopped – Walt Disney Co’s $250 million Mars epic “John Carter” and the $209 million action movie “Battleship” from Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures – forcing the companies to acknowledge financial losses.

“John Carter,” released in March last year, opened with $30.2 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible, who compiles a database to project film performance, had estimated “Jack” would need to open with at least $25 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters to make back its budget, not including marketing costs.

“21 and Over,” produced for $13 million, is a college party comedy about three friends who celebrate a 21st birthday on the night before a big exam. It was written by the screenwriters of “The Hangover.”

The “Last Exorcism” sequel follows the 2010 original about a minister who lets his demon-fighting be filmed by a documentary crew. In the new movie, the story resumes with the girl who was previously freed from an evil force running into more trouble. Distributor CBS Films, a unit of CBS Corp, acquired the sequel for about $3 million.

Rounding out the top five films was “Snitch,” which brought in $7.7 million.

Another new release, “Phantom,” failed to finish in the top 10 performing films. The movie stars Ed Harris and David Duchovny in the story of a Soviet submarine captain leading a secret mission.

“Identity Thief” was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast. “Snitch” was distributed by Summit Entertainment, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment “Phantom” was released by privately held RCR Distribution.

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Nicholas Hoult as already had plenty of success this year with last month’s zombie rom-com, “Warm Bodies,” but now he’s on to a much bigger adventure as Jack in “Jack the Giant Slayer,” director Bryan Singer’s take on the classic tale. Plus, he has another little comic book movie with Singer lined up next.

When you finally get a horse-riding role, it’s one of those signs that you’ve made it.
I don’t know if I’ve necessarily made it, but it’s very cool to be a part of a film of this scale. People often say they can ride a horse even when they can’t, even when they’ve never sat on a horse in their life. It’s just a given. You read anyone’s C.V. and it’ will say that they can ride a horse. And then if they get a horse-riding role then they’ll panic and try and learn to ride quickly.

You learned to ride for this movie, correct?
Yeah, I’d done a tiny bit before. But I had no control over the horse. I tried the approach of kind of having a mutual relationship of understanding between both parties whereby we’d trust each other and I’d be kind to the horse and the worse do what I asked it nicely rather than try to be in control, which is apparently the wrong approach. It was not so great. People kept on being like, “Nick, you’ve got to kick the horse harder so it knows who’s boss.” And I’d be like, “Well, it’s a lot bigger than me. I don’t want to kick this animal.”

Congratulations on the success of “Warm Bodies.” Have you noticed any palpable changes in your life now that you have a hit movie out?
Not particularly. To be honest with you, that weekend I went down to Africa to start shooting a film down there and then got back yesterday morning, so I was kind of kept out of it a little bit.

You’re going back to work with Bryan Singer again with “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”
He’s a really talented director and really knowledgable about film, and really can really break down stories and characters and understands how to move a story forward at all times. He’s fantastic in the X-Men world, really understands it. I haven’t spoken to him in-depth about this next one yet, but I know he’s really excited about it, and that’s a great sign. I’m looking forward to playing that role again.

The new film seems to mix actors from different time periods of the franchise, like Ian McKellan and Ellen Page, then you and Jennifer Lawrence. Are you giving much thought to how you’ll be interacting with them yet?
You know what, the odd thing was it was fantastic doing our version, “First Class,” but suddenly this time when I heard that Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart and those guys were coming back and that I was going to be in it, it suddenly became a much more real X-Men film in many ways. — as much as ours did when we were doing it, we were all new to it and it was a different time and take on it. So to be part of one of the films with all those characters is going to be really exciting for me as a fan.

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With “Jack the Giant Slayer,” Bryan Singer finds himself facing a whole new audience: kids. But while he admits the film has gone through a softening in both its title and the amount of onscreen violence, Singer insists he’s digging playing for the younger crowd. But he’s even more excited about getting back into the X-Men franchise with the currently in-development “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”

It felt like there was a more violent version of this movie just a few frames away. Was there a lot you had to change to scale it back for a family-friendly audience?
A change that I wish could’ve been in there is when [a giant] picks up [Ewan Bremner] and bites his head off. We had it where he actually put the guy’s head in his mouth and chomped it. And you know, I would’ve been happy to see that stay in. I thought it was kind of funny. I sat and watched it in a theater full of 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds, and they were [screaming], but you know, nobody walked out. But there was just so much fear on the part of the studio, and I was like, “All right, fine. Cut the few frames.” But I think the kids could’ve taken it, frankly.

How terrifying is it to sit in a screening room full of 7-year-olds?
Actually, with this movie it has been fun. I have never tested one of my event pictures. The Superman and X-Men films were always done with friends and family, but “Valkyrie” we tested. I love testing, I think it’s a great experience. And with this particular movie it was fun. The kid behind me was kicking my seat, he was laughing so hard. But at first it can be intimidating, I guess.

This movie used to be called “Jack the Giant Killer.”
I think that change was [inevitable]. I think that word, the word “killer” always put people in a kind of concerned mode. It’s not unusual that the change occurred after the tragedy in Colorado. And “slayer” is more of the period. People are “killed” in modern times, but people aren’t “slain.” Slaying is usually reserved for dragons and things like that. So I was fine with the change. And in fact, I’ve warmed up to it quite a bit. I kind of like it.

You’ve recently joined Twitter. How has that been going?
I told myself that if I ever got back into a movie that had a huge amount of expectation or interest, like an X-Men picture, that I would get on Twitter. I find it very useful because sometimes things get out there that are just not right, or fears get out there. It’s a way of reaching out to fans and reassuring fans and correcting fans without having to call a press conference or hope that there’s an interview. For instance, when I made “Valkyrie,” everyone thought, “Oh my God, the movie’s in trouble, they have reshoots. They’re going back to America to do reshoots.” And I’m like, “No, we’re not in trouble. We’re going back to America because there are no deserts in Germany.” If I had Twitter I could’ve tweeted that then and ended it right there with one tweet. It’s over. I didn’t and I couldn’t because we weren’t doing press, so all that was out there was just chatter and bulls—.

It’s exciting that you’re directing an X-Men movie again. Can you talk about how “Days of Future Past” will mix actors from the different time periods of the franchise?
Um, I can’t. I can’t talk about that, but it does! (laughs) So I am able to accommodate both casts in a really fun and interesting way, a really cool way. I love the actors in the new cast, and as a producer I was instrumental in casting them, but I never had the opportunity to work with them as director, so I get to do that now. And in the development of the script, it’s interesting. Stuff comes to me a lot faster than it does on other films. So either it’s something about the [X-Men] universe that I get more than other things, or maybe it’s just that I’m more experienced and I have an instinct about it.

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