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VOW Tops Record Finish

The Vow at the top for best non-holiday February box office race.

By Jarrod Sarafin     February 12, 2012


Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox's 3D release of The Phantom Menace contributes to the record weekend.
© 20th Century Fox/Robert Trate

 

The financial outlook coming out of Hollywood seems to be incredibly bright as we march through the winter season. Not only did early Valentine’s Day celebrations help for a 30 percent increase over last year’s results, this weekend’s amazing $190 million overall performance ranked as the best non-holiday opening ever in the month of February. We had the top two releases land just above or right below the $40 million parallel while the third and fourth place releases crossed over the $20+ million marks. It’s also the first time outside of a holiday that four films crossed that $20 million boundary. All four of the new openers hit the top spot four spots with The Vow getting the highest nod.
 
With a lot of couples choosing the weekend to celebrate the holiday early, Sony Screen Gems’ romantic drama found itself in 1st by pulling in $41.7 million on 2,958 venues across the nation. As expected, the studio reports that females made up 72 percent of the audience, while 55 percent of those buying tickets being under the age of 25. The results have it averaging $14,097 per showing as the film hit a double digit lead over its $30 million price tag. If you include the $9.7 million the film grabbed from its first 20 foreign markets, the Rachel McAdams-Channing Tatum vehicle has a global score of $52.4 million after only 3 days of release.
 
Following right behind in the 2nd place spot is Universal Pictures’ action thriller, Safe House. The release that pitted Denzel Washington against Ryan Reynolds shot up $39.3 million in ticket sales over its premiere bow, averaging $12,600 per showing in each of its 3,119 theaters. The film played far better than expected among females, who made up 50 percent of the audience. It also skewed to the older crowd, with 62 percent being over the age of 30. With another $10.2 million from its foreign distribution, the studio has a global sum of $49.5 million. Give it another week and they could catch up their $85 million budget.
 
Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line owned 3rd place with the premiere of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, the Dwayne Johnson-led sequel to their remake of Journey to the Center of the Earth. The sequel’s opening of $27.6 million made for a better debut than its predecessor---$21.0 million back in the summer of 2008---and enjoyed an incredible 94 percent jump in sales from Friday to Saturday.
 
"We knew things were turning around when we saw the jump on Saturday," said Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman. "Toby Emmerich [head of New Line] made a great decision in casting Dwayne Johnson."
 
Not bad at all for a release that was tracking to receive $16 million or less going into the weekend. The film’s budget is set at $79 million and the studios nearly have that much just off their foreign gross ($74.7 million) after three weekends of release overseas. With both the domestic and foreign gross combined, they have a global cume of $102.2 million.
 
Landing in the 4th place position is our final new wide release of the weekend (if you want to consider it “new”). Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox re-released Stars Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace into the 3D medium this weekend and found their film flying to the score of $23.0 million. Out of the top four films, it had the least amount of theaters (2,655). That means it averaged out to a very respectable $8,663 per showing. The re-release also found another $20.5 million from the international scene, meaning the George Lucas pic has $43.5 million after only 3 days of release. Fox studio chief Chris Aronson reports that of those buying tickets, 60 percent were males, while 49 percent were under the age of 25.
 
It’s not often a film drops only 44 percent at the box office over one week and yet sees their position drop from 1st to 5th place. But with such heavy demographic competition striking theaters this weekend, that’s what 20th Century Fox found after the sophomore frame for Chronicle. The tale of superpowers in teenage hands is already a successful venture for the studio. With another $12.3 million over this weekend, the film has a domestic gross of $40.1 million after 10 days of release. Another $23.1 million from foreign markets increases the global tally to $63.2 million. Very impressive numbers when considering that its budget is set at only $12 million.
 
Overall---as indicated above---the record-breaking weekend helped box office revenues jump up 30 percent over the same weekend last year. When considering the yearly race, revenue and attendance is up more than 11 percent, respectively. Check out the rest of the top 10 down below and sound off with your thoughts.
 

Rank
Movie
Weekend
Theaters
Average
Total
Budget
1
The Vow
$41.7 mil
2,958
$14,097
$41.7 mil
$30
2
Safe House
$39.3 mil
3,119
$12,600
$39.3 mil
$85
3
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
$27.5 mil
3,470
$7,939
$27.5 mil
$79
4
Star Wars: Phantom Menace 3D
$23.0 mil
2,655
$8,663
$23.0 mil
----
5
Chronicle
$12.3 mil
2,908
$4,230
$40.1 mil
$12
6
The Woman in Black
$10.3 mil
2,856
$3,606
$35.4 mil
$3
7
The Grey
$5.0 mil
2,801
$1,814
$42.8 mil
$25
8
Big Miracle
$3.9 mil
2,133
$1,828
$13.2 mil
$40
9
The Descendants
$3.5 mil
1,581
$2,214
$70.7 mil
----
10
Underworld Awakening
$2.5 mil
1,657
$1,509
$58.9 mil
$70

 
 
Friday, February 17, 2012 Releases:
Wide
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (3,000+)
This Means War (3,100+)
The Secret World of Arrietty (1,300+)
Limited
Putin’s Kiss
Thin Ice
Undefeated
Michael
Love

MOVIES REVIEWS

COMMENTS AND RESPONSES

Showing items 1 - 10 of 28
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vitieddie 2/12/2012 4:37:44 PM

Safe House (no spoilers!)

This was fast paced and action packed. Apart from a few sluggish moments (both plot wise and pacing), I enjoyed this movie.

3.5/5

 

raa2001 2/12/2012 5:21:32 PM

 I plan on catching Safe House while in theaters. Looks like Chronicle and Woman in Black are still doing the best looking at the budgets compared to gross earnings.

almostunbiased 2/12/2012 6:37:47 PM

Took family to see Journey.  The kids loved it.  And I wasn't bored.

almostunbiased 2/12/2012 6:38:52 PM

The best part for me was the Hobbit Trailer!

SarcasticCaveman 2/12/2012 7:02:14 PM

Agreed, vitieddie...say it tonight for a belated birthday movie...best off season movie I've seen in theaters since "The Source Code".

jetpackjesus 2/12/2012 7:26:50 PM

What the hell is The Vow?  I've literally never heard of it, which is never the case for a movie that wins a weekend box office. 

SarcasticCaveman 2/12/2012 7:33:24 PM

Don't worry about it, jetpackjesus, it looks like "The Notebook 2"...don't bother unless your girlfriend drags you to the theater.

SarcasticCaveman 2/12/2012 7:34:14 PM

SO glad my fiance hates chick flicks.

Wiseguy 2/13/2012 4:02:22 AM

I saw Journey 2 and it was exactly what I expected. Fun wholesome action adventure aimed at kids and families just like the first and it was pretty nice watching in I-Max 3D. Lots of eye candy

As a big fan of all Star Wars film I had to see Episode 1 in 3D and didn't disappoint even if some parts didn't look like much was done in the 3D front. But even JarJar was easier to take in 3D. Had a great time and got a set of the podarcer 3D glasses to boot.

Safe House was a pretty good action flick. Not great by any means but definitely entertaining.

Ghost Rider next week baby, hope it's a blast

xJokersxWildx 2/13/2012 5:51:01 AM

The Vow is with everyones favorite actor - Channing Tatum =) haha .  Dude can basically barely act in action movies much less love stories.

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