Weekend Box Office Report: February 15-17 2013

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

A Good Day (or four) at the Box Office!

Increasingly indestructible detective John McClane returned to theaters this weekend and gunned down the competition, putting A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD at the top of the box office with $25 million.

Bruce Willis and his action-ready on-screen offspring Jai Courtney also pulled in $8.2 million from their Thursday opening for a $33.2 million total so far. Despite the R-rating, that’s comparable to the $33.3M three-day opening of 2007’s LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, which had the benefit of a June release and a PG-13 rating. LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD also ended up being the biggest of the franchise with an eventual $383.5M worldwide total, even though it seems to be the least favorite among fans of the series (perhaps until now, judging by some of your reactions to A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD).

Capitalizing on the Valentine’s Day moviegoing audiences was the new romance SAFE HAVEN, which also scored big with an $8.8 million Thursday. The latest adaptation of a book by THE NOTEBOOK novelist Nicholas Sparks, directed by Oscar-winner Lasse Hallström, ended up with $30.2 million total even though it slipped a bit on the weekend and got overtaken by IDENTITY THIEF. That Jason Bateman/Melissa McCarthy comedy swiped $23.4 million in its second week has already scrambled to a $70.7 million ten-day haul.

In fourth place was the Weinsteins’ new 3D computer-animated alien adventure ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH with $16 million, which isn’t too bad considering it seemed to be barely promoted and only cost around $40M (compared to the $150M-plus price tags of CG productions from studios like Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks).

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES was the latest blatant big-studio effort at generating a TWILIGHT-sized franchise based on young adult fantasy books, but the target demographic clearly wasn’t buying it — the movie (budgeted at $60M) made just $10 million since its Thursday release and staggered into the sixth spot.

In fact, the teen crowds seemed more interested in the zombie romance WARM BODIES, which scored one spot higher than Warner Bros.’ new supernatural love story even though it’s been in theaters for three weeks. The enamored reanimated corpse chewed up another $9 million as the movie has shuffled to a $50.2M total. The Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday (along with February school vacation week for many) should give a jolt to all the movies in the Top 10, particularly those with youth appeal.

Director Steven Soderbergh’s allegedly final theatrical feature SIDE EFFECTS came in seventh with $6.3 million, and with the Oscars next weekend, the only Best Picture contenders still left in the Top 10 are SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (on the precipice of the $100 million mark) and ZERO DARK THIRTY (which could hypothetically also get there). ARGO and DJANGO UNCHAINED are now off the chart, and took the frightener MAMA with them.

Next weekend brings the alien abduction thriller DARK SKIES, along with SNITCH, the latest action flick starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (who returns again next month in G.I. JOE: RETALIATION).

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