Wolverine Digs His Claws Into U.S. Audiences

Hugh Jackman's turn in X-men Origins: Wolverine has stormed the U.S. box office, slaughtering the competition with takings of $87 million in its opening weekend.

The action movie, a prequel to the original X-Men trilogy, tells the story of how Jackman's character Logan turns into his mutant alter-ego Wolverine.

The highly-anticipated film clawed in an impressive $35 million in first day sales alone on Friday - making it the second-best opening for the franchise. Only X-Men: The Last Stand, the third installment of the movie series, took more on day one with $45.1 million in 2006.

Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner's romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past debuted at number two, grossing $15.3 million, while last week's chart-topper, Beyonce Knowles thriller Obsessed, dropped to third place with $4.2 million.

Zac Efron's 17 Again is at four with takings of $2 million and The Soloist rounds out the top five with $1.7 million.