Weekend Box-Office: February 3-5, 2012

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Chronicle has the power!

It may be Super Bowl weekend, but people obviously had plenty of time to check out a movie or two before kickoff. The new superpowered-teen “found footage” flick CHRONICLE just barely grabbed the top spot with a $22 million opening, performing better than expected (particularly on a $12M budget) and getting high marks from critics.

Daniel Radcliffe put away his wizard wand for some old-school Gothic chills in THE WOMAN IN BLACK, making a tight race for #1 but coming in a close second with $21M (although with such a slim margin in today’s estimates, it’s entirely possible those positions could switch tomorrow when the actual results are totaled).

Either way, not a bad debut for the week’s other modestly budgeted thriller, although I’d be curious to know how many ticket-buyers were Harry Potter fans just following Radcliffe, and how many were only seeking a good scare regardless of who was starring.

The weekend’s other new release, Drew Barrymore’s whale-saving drama BIG MIRACLE, swam into fourth with $8.5M (on around 1000 fewer screens than each of the three movies above it). Most of the others on the chart experienced a drop around 50% with last week’s top draw, Liam Neeson’s frosty survival tale THE GREY, sliding to third place with another $9.5M.

George Lucas’ RED TAILS is still sputtering along, MAN ON A LEDGE is dangling by its fingers, and Katherine Heigl’s ONE FOR THE MONEY makes us wonder why she still gets leading roles, while UNDERWORLD: AWAKENINGS has staked out a spot in the top 5 in its third week (the fanged action flick is approaching $100 worldwide). For the awards-buzzed, THE DESCENDANTS is still performing best, adding another $4.6M as apparent fave THE ARTIST still struggles to get into the Top 10.

Next weekend throws some high-profile talent into the fight: Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds face off in SAFE HOUSE, Dwayne Johnson drags Michael Caine to CG-land in the pseudo-sequel JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, Channing Tatum romances his amnesiac wife Rachel McAdams in THE VOW, and Darth Maul wants your dough for a 3D re-release of STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE. What’s your favorite “found footage” movie? VOTE HERE!