Bestseller ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ soars at box office

“The Fault in Our Stars,” the bestselling young adult novel by John Green, made its way to movie screens this weekend, and the literary adaptation topped the box office, soaring over its competition.

“The Fault in Our Stars,” which stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, brought in $48.2 million. The other big debut of the weekend, Tom Cruise’s “The Edge of Tomorrow,” wasn’t so big at all, with $29.1 in box office receipts and a third-place finish. “Maleficent” was No. 2 with $33.5 million.

The film version of “The Fault in Our Stars” was hotly anticipated by fans, who have had glimpses of the movie-in-progress through Green’s robust online presence. He posted updates about the film and photos from his time on the set on his popular Tumblr blog, which were circulated tens of thousands of times.

What happens in the romance between teen cancer survivors is, of course, already known to anyone who has read “The Fault in Our Stars.” But that seems not to have gotten in the way of this film -- in fact, the chance to spend time with the book’s characters in a new format may have helped it.

“The reason that it’s good is because Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort ... they took the book very, very seriously and cared so much about the characters,” John Green said in April at the L.A. Times Festival of Books. “In some ways I think they understand the characters in a way that I couldn’t.”

The film is showing in more than 3,100 theaters. The book is the No. 1 bestseller on Amazon.