This weekend at the box office featured a tight race between two of the three new films released. In the end, it looks as though Chronicle, that one superhero movie without all the spandex and moral speechifying, just barely edged out Daniel Radcliffe's post-Potter ghost depression movie, The Woman In Black. Chronicle debuted strong with $22 million, while Woman In Black came in just underneath with $21 million. There is, of course, the slight chance that these numbers could change, given that they're just Box Office Mojo's estimates, but it's unlikely that the places would change with a full million estimated between them. Trust me, that almost never happens.
The odd man--or in this case, whale--out in on this weekend was the heartwarming "white people save whales" movie Big Miracle. Its fourth place, $8.5 million finish was a good bit behind the last water-bound animal rescue movie to come out, A Dolphin Tale. Granted, that movie had a dolphin with a bionic robot tail and Morgan Freeman, and all Big Miracle had was some lost whales and Drew Barrymore bitching about the environment. No wonder middle America stayed away.
Regrettably, there is no box office data for any of the more interesting indies that opened this weekend, save for Madonna's directorial debut W.E., which everyone pretty much hates and The Weinstein Company is just trying to save some face on. It did pretty okay on the four screens it debuted on, earning just about $45,000. That said, don't expect it to go much wider, especially after that dull ass Madonna performance at the Super Bowl. Nobody who saw that thing was like, "Oh honey, she was so great during halftime. We should absolutely go see her movie about Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII's abdication of the throne." That's not how this shit works.
Now then, let's have us a top ten list.
 | 1. Chronicle $22 million / NEW |
 | 2. The Woman in Black $21 million / NEW |
 | 3. The Grey $9.5 million / $34.8 million |
 | 4. Big Miracle $8.5 million / NEW |
 | 5. Underworld: Awakening $5.6 million / $54.3 million |
 | 6. One for the Money $5.3 million / $19.7 million |
 | 7. Red Tails $5 million / $41.3 million |
 | 8. The Descendants $4.6 million / $65.5 million |
 | 9. Man on a Ledge $4.5 million / $14.7 million |
 | 10. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close $3.9 million / $26.8 million |
Dropped Out: Contraband; Beauty and the Beast; Haywire
Source: Box Office Mojo
Chronicle was pretty good, though the ending went for the easy knock-down, drag-out fight instead of doing something more intelligent. That being said, I thought that Dane DeHaan did a great job despite being so incredibly fucking whiny.
Not to be "that guy" but unless A Dolphin Tale (haven't seen, so I don't know) has a dolphin who writes a story about a robot, then " Granted, that movie had a dolphin with a bionic robot tale" should probably say "tail" instead of tale.
Also, I like these writeups.
Free Willy made it bad for all subsequent whale movies.
I'm glad to see "The Woman in Black" did well, I liked it quite a bit and was worried that no one would go see it. Sometimes it's nice to be wrong.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution was RIGHT! Already analog water mammals are being driven out of work by their cybernetic counterparts! MAMMALIAN PURITY FIRST!!
For what it's worth, my 15-year-old sister enjoyed The Woman in Black, and she hasn't liked most of the movies she's seen in the last few months. Granted, she goes to see a lot of crappy movies with her friends, but still.
@CharAznable said:
same situation with my girlfriend. We saw it last night and she thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was a decent movie. Worth the admission price.
Saw both Chronicle and Man on a Ledge this weekend. Loved Chronicle and thought it was exceptional. Enjoyed Man on a Ledge for what it was. Kinda surprised that Ledge was significantly panned like it was by reviewers- it's pretty generic and cliched, but it does what it's supposed to, and it's a decent enough watch. It's something you rent with your parents when you're in town visiting them- inoffensive.
This is literally the first time in atleast 2 years I've heard someone use the word emo.
@PenguinDust:
Free Willy was actually a hit, despite a low opening weekend.
The Grey wasn't at all what I was expecting but I wouldn't say it's getting bad word of mouth. Most of what I've heard is "yeah it wasn't an action film but I still liked it"
I dunno Alex, I don't think we'll get a Chronicle 2 forced down our throats. It seems to me that it's following in the Cloverfield/District 9 mold, where the director is the thing the studios focus on. He'll just get to make another new IP and they'll advertise it as "from the creator of Chronicle". Which is, thankfully, how it should be.
Oh, and Underworld made 5.6 million. Now THAT'S the kind of numbers that it should've been making all the time.
Someone tell me, was Red Tails any good? I kind of wrote it off immediately once I heard dubstep on the advertisements for it.