It’s the biggest sporting weekend in North America this weekend with the Superbowl taking place, but that didn’t stop moviegoers heading of to the local multiplex to pay for some movie action over the past three days with the top two films taking just over $20 million a piece, both of them new releases.
It was a battle between two very well reviewed movies in the North American territories; they being the superb CHRONICLE and the equally good THE WOMAN IN BLACK, a film that opens in the UK next weekend. Well, the former beat the latter in terms of Stateside takings, with CHRONICLE pulling in $22 million and THE WOMAN IN BLACK $21 million, two pretty impressive figures for films released on a Superbowl weekend. The great thing about CHRONICLE pulling in $22 million, is the fact that it cost just $12 million to make, and the critics seem to love it too. THE WOMAN IN BLACK has already made good on a $17 million budget, not including promotion and publicity costs, so the guys at Cross Creek Pictures must be pleased with that first tally.
Elsewhere in the US charts was THE GREY at number three, the Joe Carnahan directed Liam Neeson starrer that added $9.5 million to its total, taking its overall take to $34.7 million, just a touch over what it cost to make ($34 million).
This weekend’s other new release was BIG MIRACLE, which managed to take $8.5 million in the three days securing it only the number four spot. The film did however open on 1000 screens less that the top two movies and THE GREY, so it’s $ per screen would be much better than that particular movie. UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING rounded out the top five with another $5.6 million in the bank and $54.3 million total.
We’ve posted the top ten in its entirety below.
1 Chronicle $22 M
2 The Woman in Black $21 M
3 The Grey $9.5 M, $34.7 M Total
4 Big Miracle $8.5 M
5 Underworld: Awakening $5.6 M, $54.3 M Total
6 One for the Money $5.2 M, $19.6 M Total
7 Red Tails $5 M, $41.3 M Total
8 The Descendants $4.6 M, $65.5 M Total
9 Man on a Ledge $4.5 M, $14.7 M Total
10 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close $3.9 M, $26.7 M Total
Source: Box Office Mojo
