Nice weather, rock monsters, shouty fundamentalists, a nervous studio — nope, nothing could keep Noah from a $44 million opening weekend, as Darren Aronofsky’s balls-out Bible story blew past Divergent to take the top spot.

Don’t feel too bad for Shailene Woodley’s post-apocalyptic parkour picture, though; it made $26.5 million in its second week of release while Muppets Most Wanted pulled a surprising $11.4 million to finish third  — surprising because it represents a smaller-than-expected drop from last weekend’s $16.5 million opening. Maybe it’ll have legs after all.

But for all this, the real action was overseas: Captain America: The Winter Soldier opened internationally to $75.2 million, putting Noah‘s $33.6 million foreign opening in the rear-view mirror. Expect that to happen all over again on the domestic front this Friday.

We get a reasonably calm slate this weekend, with everyone getting out of Noah‘s way like a crowd of wicked men trying to outrun a flood. Will it make a dime? God only knows …

Bad Words: Jason Bateman’s promising directorial debut finds him acting out as a dickish spelling-bee contestant. The script’s first two acts are a lot stronger than its third, but Bateman and his actors manage to sell the ending anyway.

Finding Vivan Maier: Rad fell for John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s documentary about an unknown photographic artist at TIFF; now, it’s getting a theatrical run at the Bloor. You should see it.

Noah: Darren Aronofsky’s ballsy new interpretation of the Biblical tale is likely to be one of the year’s most divisive films — at least based on the reaction at my screening. And for what it’s worth, I thought it was pretty great.

The Returned: Emily Hampshire and Kris Holden-Ried are frankly terrific as a couple dealing with one partner’s incipient zombieism — sort of — but the movie around them doesn’t do them any justice. Which is a shame, because this could have been terrific.

3 Days in Havana: From the minds of actors Gil Bellows and Tony Pantages comes this odd … thing … about a guy who meets another guy and gets into some stuff. Whatever it is, Rad ain’t buying it.

And that’s everything, because Mongrel bumped Bethlehem another week down the line. That’s too bad; it’s pretty good and deserves a shot at the same audience that saw Omar. Cross your fingers that they actually put it into theatres.

We are fully into the spring festival cycle, folks.

I mean, check out this week’s NOW. Cinefranco gets underway tonight, there’s a Robert Lepage retrospective at the Lightbox, and there’s a whole bunch of other stuff coming down the pike in the next few weeks, believe you me.

I would tell you all about them, but then I would have nothing to say when April comes around. So, um, stand by? Great. Appreciate it.

As expected, Divergent topped this weekend box-office with a $56 million debut; Veronica Roth ‘s loyal readership showed up in droves and gave this franchise the launch that the Beautiful Creatures, Mortal Instruments and Vampire Academy pictures couldn’t achieve.

What wasn’t expected was the really soft opening for Muppets Most Wanted, which placed second with a disappointing $16.5 million. Given that their 2011 vehicle opened with nearly twice that, this means Disney might flinch at the thought of future Muppet movies … though the property itself is really strong, so maybe we’ll just get another run of the show. (Which is what Jason Segel was hoping for all along.)

Maybe sorta expected: The Veronica Mars movie slipped out of sight, as fans holed up with their digital downloads. But it was a limited release, so Warner’s expectations couldn’t have been too high. And it’s not like it has to make back its cost.

Say what you will about the state of cinema, there’s something weirdly adorable about Lars Von Trier’s latest bid for attention opening against a Muppet movie.

Divergent: Shailene Woodley trains to be a dystopian parkour cop in the latest Hunger Games wannabe. Seriously, that’s pretty much it.

Down River: Helen Shaver and Gabrielle Miller co-star in Vancouver actor-turned-director Ben Ratner’s new drama, which Susan feels is strongest when Ratner stops worrying about subtext and just lets his cast do their thing.

The Lunchbox: Ritesh Batra’s modest Indian dramedy was a word-of-mouth hit at TIFF last year. Rad suggests it has the stones to make it in commercial release.

Muppets Most Wanted: They’re back! Again! For, like, the seventh or eighth time! But who can hold it against them? Not me, even though it’s pretty clear Jason Segel was responsible for most, if not all, of the last movie’s soul.

Nymph()maniac : Charlotte Gainsbourg recounts a lifetime of lust and misery in Lars Von Trier’s four-hour spin on the Moll Flanders fallen-woman narrative … which lands at the Lightbox in two volumes, each with its own ticket. It’s being embraced by those who found Melancholia too grim, which I guess makes sense. Personally, I thought Melancholia was terrific, and found this affected and dull … and Susan flat-out rejects it. Can’t really blame her.

Le Week-end: Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan play a couple on the rocks in Roger Michell’s relationship study, which is being sold as the next The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel — but really, really isn’t.

… so, yeah, go see The Lunchbox. Oh, or you could go for a walk if it’s still warm out. Is it? I really hope it is.

This week in NOW, things get weird. I mean, the cover’s sort of a giveaway, but even so.

Oh, sure, I take a look at the Canadian Film Festival, which is pretty normal (if fairly uneven), but I also talked to Nick Prueher of the Found Footage Festival on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, and then there was this press conference with Miss Piggy, who came into town earlier this week to promote Muppets Most Wanted.

Yeah, I’ve met Miss Piggy and she’s pretty great. But then, it’s no big deal; I’ve interviewed Kermit twice, man.

The big box-office news, I guess, is that neither Need for Speed nor Tyler Perry’s The Single Moms Club did especially well this weekend, grossing $17.8 million and $8.3 million, respectively, to open in third and fifth place while Mr. Peabody and Sherman pulled a second-weekend gross of $21.2 million, allowing it to flip places with last week’s top title 300: Rise of an Empire.

I’m more heartened by the fact that The Grand Budapest Hotel and Veronica Mars made it into the Top 10 at all, since they’re both effectively limited-release titles. Grand Budapest is only on 66 screens in North America, as part of Fox Searchlight’s platform strategy, while Veronica Mars received minimal play due to Warner’s day-and-date VOD release plan.

But they’re both very good movies with considerable fan bases, and certainly the fact that people bought $2 million worth of tickets to see Veronica Mars when it was readily available on iTunes as an eight-dollar rental is awfully encouraging. Some movies are just more fun with a crowd.

Happy Friday, everyone! Will it really get back above freezing today, or is that a lie the meteorologists are telling us so we don’t go all Thunderdome on each other?

Well, if it doesn’t, at least we can go to the movies and pretend the light from the screen is giving us a nice tan …

Enemy: I still haven’t been able to see the damn thing, but John says Denis Villeneuve’s other Jake Gyllenhaal movie is the best Toronto picture since Cronenberg’s Crash.  Cool.

A Field in England: Ben Wheatley’s latest is pretty much unclassifiable beyond “period freakout”. But dear sweet lord, does it achieve its goals.

The Grand Budapest Hotel: A friend called this the most Wes Anderson movie Wes Anderson has ever Wes Andersoned. He’s not wrong … but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, either.

The Husband: John reviewed Bruce McDonald’s Euro-flavored character study at TIFF, so he had dibs on the NOW review … but we’re on the same page. Go see, is good.

Liv & Ingmar: Dheeraj Akolkar’s look at the personal and professional relationship of screen legends Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman is necessarily one-sided, structured as it is around interviews with Ullmann. Couldn’t be helped, I guess.

Need for Speed: Rad is not impressed with Aaron Paul’s requirement of velocity, which sounds an awful lot like a Fast & Furious movie without the carefully developed narrative.

Stay: I have a feeling that Jose appreciates Wiebke von Carolsfield’s adaptation of Aislinn Hunter’s novel more than he actually enjoys it.

Tyler Perry’s The Single Moms Club: No press screening. No complaints.

Veronica Mars: Rob Thomas has made the first movie to explicitly build a joke around a DVD supplement — and that’s why his big-screen spinoff of his beloved cult series is so satisfying. If you loved the show, this will make you very happy indeed.

And that is everything, as far as I am aware. Have a good weekend! See something!

This week, the NOW film section comes packed with interviews. And not just my stuff — John talks to Denis Villeneuve  about Enemy and Rad chats with Aaron Paul about Need for Speed.

What do I contribute? Well, there’s my TIFF interview with Ben Wheatley about his idiosyncratic freakout A Field in England; a Q&A with Rob Thomas, director and co-writer of the Veronica Mars movie, and a web-exclusive conversation with director Bruce McDonald and co-writer/star Maxwell McCabe-Lokos about their slippery new character piece The Husband.

Do check them out. Good stuff there.