This weekend’s box office results were all over the place. Only two movies finished where they were predicted to, notably ‘Identity Thief’, which climbed back into the top spot after being dethroned by ‘Die Hard’ last weekend. With the help of a $14 million weekend, the poorly-reviewed comedy has made $93.6 million in 17 days.
The Rock’s ‘Snitch debuted in the #2 spot, $2 million above expectations. Although its $13 million opening may sound soft, such is the case with Oscar weekend. The film’s $5,177 per-screen average was actually the highest in the Top 10.
Surprisingly, ‘Escape from Planet Earth‘ only fell 30% and nudged its way up to the #3 spot. Its $11 million second weekend brings this 3D family flick’s cumulative total up to $35.1 million. The second-weekend drop-off for ‘Safe Haven‘ wasn’t so kind. The latest Nicholas Sparks formulaic romantic drama fell 50% to $10.6 million, which brings its total to $48 million.
Falling hardest was ‘A Good Day to Die Hard, which dropped 59.7%. The $92 million action flick only pulled in $10 million in its second week. While its domestic total is only at $51.8 million, the movie has crossed the $100 million mark overseas.
Dark Skies debuted nearly $2 million below expectations, but with its ultra-tiny budget, the PG-13 horror flick is already in the positive. Considering that the movie was made for only $3.5 million, its sixth place $8.8 million opening weekend wasn’t so bad.
Since this was the last chance to catch Academy Award nominated films prior to the Oscars, it’s no big surprise that those contenders featured the lowest drop-offs. ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘ fell a whole 3% and made another $6 million. Its domestic total is now at $107.4 million. ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ fell 25% with $2.2 million. Despite having already hit Blu-ray shelves last week, ‘Argo‘ pulled in another $1.9 million. The 14-week-old ‘Life of Pi‘ fell 1.3% and brought in $1.5 million. Finally, the 16-week-old ‘Lincoln‘ fell 8.6% and earned $1.4 million.
Mind you, although most of these titles haven’t yet been released on Blu-ray, many are available to rent via streaming services. How much more the streaming revenue added to their true weekend grosses hasn’t been reported.
Top 10:
1. ‘Identity Thief’ (Universal) – $14,064,000
2. ‘Snitch’ (Summit) – $13,000,000
3. ‘Escape From Planet Earth’ (Weinstein) – $11,013,000
4. ‘Safe Haven’ (Relativity) – $10,600,000
5. ‘A Good Day To Die Hard’ (Fox) – $10,000,000
6. ‘Dark Skies’ (Weinstein/Dimension) – $8,850,000
7. ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ (Weinstein) – $6,051,000
8. ‘Warm Bodies’ (Summit) – $4,750,000
9. ‘Side Effects’ (Open Road) – $3,511,000
10. ‘Beautiful Creatures’ (Warner Bros.) – $3,410,000
