The Incredible Hulk trounced the competition at the box office this Father’s Day weekend en route to a sizable $54.5 million opening. Starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, the second comic book-based release of the summer has received generally good reviews from critics and viewers.

Last week’s top movie, Kung Fu Panda, slipped to the No. 2 spot while generating $34.3 million in revenue. The animated film’s two-week gross now stands at $118 million.

The other highly anticipated new release of the week was M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening. This film earned a solid $30.5 million at the box office, but bad reviews and terrible word of mouth will likely lead to a major dropoff next weekend.

I’ve got to say that I don’t know what’s going ton with Shyamalan. Did he peak with The Sixth Sense? Because most of his films after that have been heavily panned and ridiculed by nearly everyone — myself included. I guess it’s safe to say I’ll be waiting for The Happening to come out on DVD.

At any rate, here’s the complete Top 10 for the weekend ending 6/15/08:

  1. The Incredible Hulk, $54.5 milliion
  2. Kung Fu Panda, $34.3 million
  3. The Happening, $30.5 million
  4. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, $16.4 million
  5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $13.5 million
  6. Sex and the City, $10.2 million
  7. Iron Man, $5.13 million
  8. The Strangers, $4.1 million
  9. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, $3 million
  10. What Happens in Vegas…, $1.7 million