Comedy took a beating at the domestic box office over Father's Day weekend as 1980s jukebox musical "Rock of Ages" and Adam Sandler's R-rated "That's My Boy" did dismal business in their debuts.

Instead, it was holdovers "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" and "Prometheus" that continued to top the chart, staying at No. 1 and No. 2 respectively with $35.5 million and $20.2 million.

"Rock of Ages" topped out at $15.1 million to place third; "That's My Boy" grossed $13 million to come in No. 5 after being bested by holdover "Snow White and the Huntsman" ($13.8 million).

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"Madagascar 3," from DreamWorks Animation and Paramount, fell less than 42 percent from its opening weekend and has earned $120.5 million in its first 10 days of play domestically and a resounding $277.5 million worldwide (the toon also won the international race in grossing $53 million for the weekend).

Twentieth Century Fox's "Prometheus," falling 60 percent, has now earned $88.9 million domestically.

The soft performances of Adam Shankman's musical "Rock of Ages" -- with an all-star ensemble cast including Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand -- and "That's My Boy" are major disappointments for their respective studios and stars, and particularly Sandler.

"Rock of Ages," from New Line and Warner Bros., received a so-so B CinemaScore. The movie came in far behind Shankman and New Line's 2007 "Hairspray" and Universal's 2008 "Mamma Mia!" Both of those movies -- likewise based on hit Broadway films -- opened just north fo $25 million.

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One issue for "Rock of Ages" was that it failed to rally younger moviegoers, despite leads Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta. Nearly 75 percent of the audience was over the age of 25, the demo that most relates to the film's music. Females made up the majority of those buying tickets, or 62 percent.

"The numbers aren't great. It's hard to fathom since the movie plays so well," Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman said. "I'm still optimistic we can overperform during the week because of women."

Both "Rock of Ages" and "That's My Boy" cost just under $70 million to produce.

Sony's "That's My Boy," earning a B- CinemaScore, marks Sandler's lowest debut for a comedy since "Spanglish" in 2004 ($8.8 million). The film, pairing Sandler with Andy Samberg, is the actor's first R-rated comedy since "Funny People," which opened to $22.7 million in July 2007.

"Sure we had hoped for more. It is a crazy, off-the-wall raunchy R-rated comedy that audiences laugh like crazy at. Kudos to Adam for mixing it up," Sony president of worldwide distribution Rory Bruer said. "We love being in the Adam Sandler business."

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Sandler has been one of Hollywood's most consistent stars in terms of box office performance, although last year's summer comedy"Jack and Jill" underperformed domestically, cuming roughly $74 million.

"That's My Boy" played fairly evenly among males (54 percent) and females (46 percent), even though the picture had been tracking best among younger males. The comedy did succeed in luring younger moviegoers, with 52 percent of the audience under the age of 25.

Elsewhere at the box office, Sony's "Men in Black 3" grew its worldwide gross to $544.3 million, while specialty titles "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and "Moonrise Kingdom" continued to land on the top 10 chart domestically.

From Fox Searchlight and directed by John Madden, "Marigold Hotel" came in No. 8 with $2.2 million from 1,184 theaters for a North American cume of $35.1 million. Focus Features' "Moonrise," from director Wes Anderson, continued to expand nicely, grossing $2.1 million from 178 theaters for a cume of $6.8 million.

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More in msnbc Entertainment: 

• Review: Somebody needs to unplug 'Rock of Ages'
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• Sandler: Without movies, 'What else am I supposed to do with my life?'

Dreamworks Animation / AP

Time for me to dig out my list of “Reasons Why the World Deserves to End in 2012” and amend the entry, “Because there are new installments of both ‘Ice Age’ and ‘Madagascar.’” The third time, despite what you’ve heard, is rarely the charm, but “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” marks the spot where a shrill and unfunny kid franchise made the leap into hilarious and engaging family entertainment.

Part of that transition may have to do with the addition of co-writer Noah Baumbach, best known for indies like “Greenberg” (starring Ben Stiller, who voices lion Alex here) and “Margot at the Wedding,” but who made his bones in the animation world by collaborating with Wes Anderson on their charming adaptation of “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

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Whatever the reason, “Madagascar 3” finds the franchise finally finding its comedic groove, mixing character-based comedy, outrageous adventures and the occasional bit of parent-friendly wordplay.

We last left our heroes — Alex, zebra Marty (Chris Rock), hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) and giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) — living the high life on the African veldt. Like all transplanted New Yorkers, however, they all kvetch about missing the Big Apple and decide to make their way back to the Central Park Zoo they successfully escaped two movies ago. This involves snorkeling to Monaco (don’t ask) to reunite with the penguins and chimps who can fly an airplane (no, really, don’t ask).

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Their stint in Monte Carlo draws the attention of ruthless animal control cop Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand, summoning all the Gallic hauteur she can muster), who would like nothing more than to add Alex’s head to the menagerie of stuffed trophies on her wall. Pursued by DuBois, the animals join up with a down-on-its-luck circus, pretending to be performers themselves so that they can hop the train and get out of the country.

The circus’ fortunes declined when knife-throwing tiger Vitaly (Bryan Cranston) lost his mojo, but leopard Gia (Jessica Chastain) thinks these Americans can put their three-ring show back on top. Not that the plot — how will the circus animals react when they find out their new compadres are mere zoo attractions? — matters much; directors Eric Darnell (who co-wrote) and Tom McGrath use the circus setting as a springboard for eye-popping 3D visuals (there’s a trapeze sequence that’s as trippy as anything since the “Pink Elephants on Parade” number in “Dumbo”) and some genuinely funny character interactions.

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The returning players all seem to be more on their game: Stiller’s less of a whiner, Rock tones it down a notch or two (but still rattles off a circus theme song that’s still stuck in my head) and it turns out that Schwimmer’s voice sounds more natural coming out of the mouth of a neurotic giraffe than it does coming out of Schwimmer himself. Of the new additions, Cranston, Chastain and Martin Short (as a dopey but friendly performing seal) all score, but McDormand steals her every scene.

It helps that the hyper-capable DuBois nonetheless becomes the object of lots of wonderfully slapstick Inspector Clouseau–esque abuse.

If the previous “Madagascar” entries left you cold, take the plunge with this threequel. You will believe a hippopotamus can tight-rope dance.

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The tune's as annoyingly addictive as "It's a Small World," but not everyone recognizes the voice behind it. That's comedian Chris Rock as the zebra Marty in the trailer for "Madagascar 3: Escape to Europe," wearing a rainbow wig and belting out the oh-so-catchy "Circus! Afro! Circus! Afro! Polka dot, polka dot, polka dot, Afro!"

But when TODAY's Ann Curry noted that the song had earned 750,000 hits on YouTube, Rock pointed out the obvious: "Isn't it a shame YouTube pays nothin'?" he said.

Curry pointed out with a laugh that his song was making people smile, to which Rock responded, "Pays me in smiles.  ... I can starve on smiles."

Curry also asked Rock what animal he could be if he could choose anything. After considering the lion ("king of the jungle and all that") and the snake ("scare people, sssssss!"), Rock decided he'd stick with Marty the zebra, joking that it was "in honor of our zebra president, black and white, white and black."

"I love our president, you know, but he's black and white, he appeals to all," Rock said. "That's what I'm going for."

Rock later joined the TODAY anchors and a certain happy red Muppet named Elmo on the couch for a rollicking and freespirited discussion -- and couldn't resist getting in a joke at the expense of singer Chris Brown, who'll be on TODAY Friday. "I hope the weather doesn't smack us upside the head tomorrow," Rock announced.

Elmo then took the discussion in a more wholesome direction, urging fans to "like" his Facebook page campaigning for him to carry the Olympic torch (a cardboard version -- 3-year-olds can't handle real fire).

The Muppet then asked Rock to explain what "viral" meant in "viral video," but Rock had a different definition in mind. "Elmo, you can go, but you can't sit in the seat." And later, when Elmo planted a smooch on the cheek of anchor Matt Lauer, Rock warned him to be careful, "You might catch something viral."

"Madagascar 3: Escape to Europe" opens on June 8. Elmo says he'll be there.

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Ah, another movie, another attempt to get back home to New York City.

In this trailer for the third installment of the popular Madagascar series, our fearless (OK, a little fearful) friends Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) once again have their work cut out for them. This time, however, the action takes place in and around Monte Carlo as the foursome try to evade animal control. (Trust us, it'll make more sense after you watch the clip above.)

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Oh my! What to do? How can they possibly get through Europe without attracting attention? Well, how about joining a traveling circus? Um, yeah, good luck with that.

"Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" is scheduled to hit theaters on June 8.