'Noah' floats to top of box office with $44 million

Darren Aronofsky really made it rain this weekend.

Despite some objections over the biblical epic's modernist interpretation of its source material, Noah sailed to the top of the weekend box office with a $44 million debut.

The Russell Crowe film even beat out Divergent, which brought in $26.5 million in its second week in theaters. Muppets Most Wanted came in third with $11.4 million.

Another Christian-themed filmed, God's Not Dead, rounded out the top 5 with $9.1 million.

Aronofsky bushed aside the controversy earlier this month, telling Variety that he wanted nonbelievers to see the film.

"[Noah] was made for believers and nonbelievers," he said. "I'm more concerned about getting nonbelievers into the theater or people who are less religious.

[USA Today]