The new mixed martial arts movie ‘Warrior’ opened to very solid ratings by critics nationwide while pulling in 5.6 million dollars for it’s opening weekend.

According toEntertainment Weekly, the Lionsgate produced film came in 3rd overall at the weekend box office behind Steven Soderbergh’s health crisis movie ‘Contagion’ and ‘The Help’, which has been in theaters for several weeks.

While the $5.6 million is far less than the $25 million budget that was spent to make ‘Warrior’, it’s the underlying scores that boast potential for the new MMA film.

CinemaScore had ‘Warrior’ rated with an ‘A’ and is expected to gain more steam over the next few weeks.

‘Warrior’ had an audience that consisted of 66% men with 70% of those men at 25 years of age or older. For an MMA film with their base audience running between 18 to 34 years of age, those numbers may seem a little old, but the movie was marketed more as a dramatic film that a sports franchise.

The New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter and Empire all rated the movie a 90 out of 100 according to Metacritic.com.

(image courtesy of Lionsgate Films)

‘Warrior’ focuses around a pair of estranged brothers who both enter a two-night MMA tournament with millions of dollars on the line. The back story is where the film gained much of its recognition with strong acting performances by stars Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton and Academy Award nominee Nick Nolte.