Will Ferrell is no longer stuck in the Land of the Lost.

After stinking up the theaters last summer with his science fiction remake, Ferrell has rebounded nicely with The Other Guys. Sony’s buddy-cop flick opened to $35.5 million over the weekend, giving the funnyman his second highest debut ever. (Talledega Nights rang in $47 million in August 2006.) The comedy also performed well for Mark Wahlberg. It was his best outing since Planet of the Apes’ $68.5 million kickoff in 2001.

Unfortunately, 3-D screens and So You Think You Can Dance plugs couldn’t push Step Up 3D further up the charts. The $40 million film only grossed $15.8 million in ticket sales while coming in lower than the first two installments. (Step Up premiered to $20.7 million in 2006 while Step Up 2 the Streets opened to $18.9 million in 2008.)

1. The Other Guys, Sony, $35,543,162 (avg. $9735)
2. Inception, Warner Bros., $18,505,470 (avg. $5414)
3. Step Up 3-D, Disney, $15,812,311 (avg. $6494)
4. Salt, Sony, $10,908,204 (avg. $3289)
5. Dinner for Schmucks, Paramount, $10,375,397 (avg. $3454)
6. Despicable Me, Universal, $9,283,360 (avg. $2720)
7. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Warner Bros., $6,902,116 (avg. $1863)
8. Charlie St. Cloud, Universal, $4,700,490 (avg. $1725)
9. Toy Story 3, Disney, $3,119,088 (avg. $1820)
10. The Kids are All Right, Focus Features, $2,597,177 (avg. $2613)

(You can review last week’s numbers here.)