Teenagers haven't had much choices of movies to see over the last few weeks, but this particular time, they came out in droves for sci-fi flick Chronicle. The found-footage flick debuted to a larger-than-expected $22 million, for a per-theater average of a solid $7,569 from around 3,200 screens at 2,907 theaters. That marked the fifth week in a row that a film debuted at #1 and earned over $20 million in sales (The Grey technically counts since its' $19.7 million actual was close enough), and proves that the found-footage genre is popular. Even better, the budget was just a slim $12 million, which it nearly doubled on opening weekend alone, and had an unknown cast. Distributor 20th Century Fox has to be thrilled about this news, since they had originally projected just a high-single digits opening. Critics loved it (85% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences were more mixed ("B" CinemaScore grade), so its' currently questionable how well it will hold moving forward. Tom Hardy and Eli Manning did end up cutting into its' full potential however ($10.1 million Saturday VS. $3.3 million Sunday).
Daniel Radcliffe actually proved that he can do well on his own without the support of a magic wand and great fanbase. Period horror flick The Woman in Black also debuted much higher than expected with $20.9 million, taking the second spot for a per-theater average of a good $7,311 from 2,855 theaters. While not opening as high as last month's The Devil Inside, it still was way above average for a horror flick, and young audiences also came out in strong numbers. The film also earned the biggest opening in distributor CBS Films three-year history, topping The Back-Up Plan ($12.2 million start), and was produced for just $16 million (including marketing), so it has become a huge hit no matter what the results state. Critics (62% from Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences ("B-" CinemaScore grade) were mainly mixed, and the films' business still collapsed on Sunday ($9.6 million Satuday VS. $2.9 million Sunday).
Liam Neeson's The Grey followed in third with a 53% drop to $9.3 million, for a $34.6 million gross in 10 days. That was a much steeper drop than Neeson's previous films Unknown and Taken, but those films didn't have competition nor the big game to deal with. Its' become a success against its' relatively small $25 million budget.
The other new release, family drama Big Miracle debuted in the fourth spot with $7.8 million, being highly overestimated on Sunday (ending up over $750,000 behind its' $8.5 million estimate) and averaging a mild $3,645 from 2,129 theaters. That was a mildly disappointing debut, coming in below analysts and distributor Universal Pictures' expectations, who had projected a high-single digits to around $10 million debut. The films' debut was just over one-third of similar film Dolphin Tale ($19.2 million), though that had a wider release and had 3-D to boost sales. Produced for around $35 million, both critics (71% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences ("A-" CinemaScore grade) gave it positive response, which could help it show some legs in the weeks ahead, though more competition (Journey 2 and Star Wars: Episode I 3-D next weekend and Arrietty the following weekend) won't help. Although family films do tend to hold well on Super Bowl Sunday, this wasn't the case ($3.9 million Saturday VS. $1.6 million Sunday compared to its' $2.3 million estimate).
With The Woman in Black serving as competition, Underworld: Awakening dropped 56% to $5.5 million, for a $54.2 million gross in 17 days. Its' still tracking ahead of Evolution through the same point and could end up finishing at around $65 million. Even with the female audience out during the big game, it couldn't save One for the Money, which dropped 55% to $5.2 million for a 10-day total of a lackluster $19.6 million and will likely close just north of $25 million.
Despite positive word-of-mouth, Red Tails still dropped 54% to seventh place to $4.7 million, for a $41.1 million gross in 17 days. George Lucas' war drama has failed to find its' footing and will mostlikely crash just north of the $50 million mark. George Clooney's The Descendants had the best hold out of the entire Top 10 with a 29% ease to $4.6 million for a $65.5 million gross in 12 weeks. The crime drama Man on a Ledge slid from fifth to ninth place, but held decently with a 46% retreat to $4.4 million, but is still inconsequential as it has only picked up $14.6 million in 10 days, and will be lucky to reach the $20 million barrier domestically.
Best Picture nominee Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close rounded out the Top 10 in its' third full week of wide release with a 46% ease to $3.8 million, for a lackluster 17-day total of $26.7 million. Unless if it wins Best Picture at the Oscars in a couple of weeks, this will still go down as a disappointment as it probably won't go higher than $35 million by the time its' done.
Overall box office was up a huge 32% from last year when college drama The Roommate topped the box office with a solid $15 million, on its' way to just over $35 million stateside. James Cameron-executive produced 3D thriller Sanctum debuted with underwhelming results in second with $9.4 million, on its' way to close to $25 million on the domestic front. No Strings Attached slid a spot to third with a 40% ease to $8 million, while The King's Speech moved back up to the fourth position with a 30% ease to $7.7 million. The Green Hornet rounded out the Top 5 in its' fourth weekend with $6 million, slipping 47%.
Here is the final Top 10:
# Movie Actual Numbers Projected Estimates My Predictions
1 Chronicle $22,004,098 $22,000,000 $15,000,000
2 The Woman in Black $20,874,072 $21,000,000 $15,000,000
3 The Grey $9,300,999 $9,500,000 $12,000,000
4 Big Miracle $7,760,205 $8,500,000 $10,000,000
5 Underworld: Awakening $5,500,744 $5,600,000 $5,500,000
6 One for the Money $5,206,279 $5,300,000 $6,500,000
7 Red Tails $4,735,595 $5,000,000 $6,000,000
8 The Descendants $4,552,943 $4,600,000 $3,500,000
9 Man on a Ledge $4,351,036 $4,500,000 $4,500,000
10 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close $3,802,367 $3,900,000 $5,000,000
