While many people broke out their grills and fireworks to celebrate independence this weekend, recent box office estimates at Yahoo! Movies show that a good amount spent their time watching Tom Cruise’s latest action flick, War of the Worlds, which opened last Wednesday.

Expectations started high with the big names attached to the movie’s roster. Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning topped the list of actors, along with director Steven Spielberg. To add to the hype, War of the Worlds produced major publicity with multiple premieres worldwide. The question was: could War of the Worlds live up to its own promotion? Yahoo! Movies says so far, so good.

Warren Bensken, 17, who works at the Goodrich Savoy 16 Theater, said the theater was expecting big crowds for the movie. Over the weekend, it showed War of the Worlds in four theaters, and the extra viewing room proved necessary.

“It’s doing better than some of the other movies, but not as good as (Batman Begins),” Bensken said.

The box office reflects the battle for number one between the new releases. Yahoo! Movies shows War of the Worlds took the number one spot for weekend revenues at $77,600,000, and closely trails Batman Begins, which has been out two weeks more for first in cumulative sales. The data shows that War of the Worlds made it where it counts, in the pocketbook, but viewers’ responses varied.

Matt Mayfield, 28, and Nigel Knop, 16, saw the movie as a “family night out.” Both said it met their expectations.

“I especially liked the special effects and the action,” Mayfield said.

Knop, Mayfield’s brother, agreed that the special effects were the best part of the movie. Though he had already seen the movie, he enjoyed it enough to see it again with family.

“It was so good that I didn’t get bored the entire second time,” Knop said.

However, like all movies, this one also has its critics. Rebecca Green, senior in LAS, said she did not enjoy the movie.

“There were too many holes in the plot,” Green said. “I expected more out of big names like Tom Cruise and Spielberg.”

While War of the Worlds is receiving mixed reviews, it is clear their massive publicity worked, and the movie is bringing in the numbers to prove it.