Following a disappointing 2011 at the box-office, 2012 has certainly provided a considerable fillip in the early months. After just six weekends, the year is running more than 18% ahead of the box-office at the same point in 2011.
Valentine weekend certainly contributed to these figure as four new releases posted takings north of $20 million, making it one of the busiest February weekend's in history.
Top dog for the weekend was the romantic drama The Vow. Starring the genre evergreen Rachel McAdams (The Notebook, The Time Traveller’s Wife) and Channing Tatum, the feature delivered a $41.2 million opening.
Top five films
The top four films of the weekend were all new releases, with Denzel Washington and his latest, Safe House, just missing out top spot. Recording his second best opening in his long career (after American Gangster), the Daniel Espinosa-helmed feature attracted $40.2 million.
Surpassing all expectations, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island placed third with $27.3 million whilst the cult that is Star Wars continues as the 3D Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace culled $22.5 million.
Last weekend’s number one, Chronicle, dropped 45% to $12.1 million to round out the top five.
Limited releases and holdovers
The sixth film to post more than $10 million was The Woman in Black, Daniel Radcliffe’s first since the Harry Potter series. The ghost story has scared up $35.3 million to date on what was expected to be a much smaller success.
The Oscar hopefuls are sliding away after several weeks on release, although The Descendants is holding on in there. Remaining in the top ten, the George Clooney feature took out $3.4 million and a $70.7 million total.
The BAFTA for best film and key other awards continue to mean little to American audiences as The Artist dropped once again, although by just 14%, to $2.2 million and a $24 million total. One place below in 14th place, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo continues to show stamina with $1.8 million after 12 weeks on release and $64.4 million.
Both of last weekend’s screen average champs crumbled. The documentary An Inconsistent Truth doubled its screens (to two!) and plummeted to a $3,700 average. But that was slightly better than Madonna’s critically-panned W.E. Just ahead of the singer’s new album release, her feature starring Abbie Cornish (Limitless) widened to 17 theatres and attracted a disastrous $3,500 average.
Spanish animation Oscar-nominee Chico & Rita took the mantle for screen average champ with $20,700 – although this was on only one screen. The reality was that the top two films The Vow and Safe House with their $40 million plus openings were the real screen average winners - $14,000 and $12,900 respectively in more than 3,000 theatres each.
On limited release (just five theatres), Woody Harrelson and Rampart averaged $12,100, a film that reunites the Oscar-nominated actor with writer/director Oren Moverman (The Messenger).
Tom Cruise reached a major milestone during the week as his MI4 comfortably passed the $600 million worldwide to become the star’s most successful film in history, overtaking The War of the Worlds and $592 million.
Top five films at the North American box-office, 10-12 February
- The Vow (Screen Gems), $41.2 million ($41.2 million)
- Safe House (Universal), $40.2 million ($40.2 million)
- Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (Warner Bros), $27.3 million ($27.3 million)
- Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (Fox), $22.5 million ($22.5 million)
- Chronicle (Fox), $12.1 million ($40 millon)
Keith Lawrence - Published writer of articles in magazines, newspapers and websites, predominantly on culture, alongside ghostwriter/editor/copywriter.
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