Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds broke into the weekend box office with Safe House at #1 with $27.542 million while Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams wowed in The Vow at #2 with $26.64 million for President’s Day weekend. Fellow box office veteran Journey 2: The Mysterious Island joined the flip-flopping #1 and #2 (see 02.10-12.2012: Weekend Box Office – The $) in the same #3 spot from the previous week with $25.934 million, only an amazing 5.1% decrease. The family adventure sequel added 30 theaters to 3,500 theaters and bested Journey to the Center of the Earth by more than $15.5 million in its second weekend. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, #5 spy vs. spy romantic comedy This Means War ($20.006 million) and #8 Studio Ghibli-anime The Secret World of Arrietty ($8.684 million) all debuted the holiday weekend.
Johnny Blaze, aka Ghost Rider, was extinguished as Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance premiered to less than half of the original. The opening four-day weekend for 2007’s #1 Ghost Rider was $45.388 million in comparison to the $25.47 million of its #4 sequel five years later. The $57 million movie attracted 61% males and 48% under the age of 25.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace used the 3D force but still fell to #6 from #4 from last week with the highest negative % change of the top ten. The re-release received a -55.8% change with $9.92 million, adding to the lifetime domestic gross of $466.882 million.
Chronicle and The Woman in Black continued to follow one another down the box office at #7
and #9, respectively. The sci-fi superpowers of the Chronicle trio are keeping audiences interested as the $12 million movie grossed $9.164 million to its $52.643 million domestic gross. Meanwhile, The Woman in Black is frightening fewer and fewer. The Harry Potter in horror has grossed $46.404 million in three weekends, $7.794 million of it this President’s Day weekend.
Feed me at sharon@horrorhaven.com
