The box office results for the weekend of February 10th – 12th sees an overall box office resurgence thanks to a combination of new products and sequels/re-releases. The new guys, The Vow and Safe House, are battling for top honors in their debut weekend while the 3D crowd of Journey 2 and The Phantom Menace re-release, post strong outings. Here are the studio estimates:
1. The Vow ($41.7 million)
2. Safe House ($39.3 million)
3. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island ($27.5 million)
4. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace ($23 million)
5. Chronicle ($12.3 million)
6. The Woman in Black ($10.3 million)
7. The Grey ($5 million)
8. Big Miracle ($3.8 million)
9. The Descendants ($3.5 million)
10. Underworld: Awakening ($2.5 million)
Analysis
Well Channing Tatum, if you are unable to find success in other genres at the box office, it seems like you can always be a sure thing in a romantic flick. The Vow, produced for $30 million, definitely capitalized on the looming Valentine’s Day holiday. And while the reviews were mostly negative, audiences who eat these type of cinematic stories up will always be there to pad the stats. Even if this dips 50% next weekend, and dealing with direct competition from one other flick releasing, this is on its way to seeing the black ink thanks to the red Hallmark holiday. In other words, Sleeper Hit.
Right in the mix though is Universal Pictures’ Safe House. Having Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in the lead roles in this action product will certainly draw a crowd. But they’re going to need some stamina to make bank off a production budget of $80 million. The lovely critics are panning this sucker and judging by Universal’s box office performance over the last year or so, the majority of their products tend to drop quickly.
Technically a sequel in name only, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island did fairly well opening against three other newbies. Made for a modest $79 million – rare for a heavy 3D CGI fest not to ring up at least $100 million – this has a shot for an extended ride in the top ten, due to a lack of competition for the fam-friendly market. Reviews were relatively shanty for this as well. (Critics were grouchy this week).
And finally, greedy George Lucas re-re-released Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. This time, in glorious 3D. Seriously, dude. Anyways, depending on how much the marketing campaign costs, this should just be icing on the cake for the old man and Twentieth Century Fox. If anything, this will inch its way up on the all-time chart.
Flop Alert: Big Miracle. After two weeks in theaters, a $13.1 million gross will not be enough for this flick to break through the profitability barrier, despite only costing $30 million to produce.
This Friday, Ghost Rider 2, This Means War, and the animated The Secret World of Arrietty try to keep the momentum going for the industry. Reviews will be right here my fellow Shockers!
By Joe Belcastro
