WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
1) Shutter Island - $22.2 million
2) Cop Out - $18.5 million
3) The Crazies - $16.5 million
4) Avatar - $14.0 million
5) Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Lightning Thief - $9.8 million
6) Valentine's Day - $17.1 million
7) Dear John - $7.3 million
8) The Wolfman - $ 9.8 million
9) Tooth Fairy - $4.5 million
10) Crazy Heart - $3.0 million
While there were two new and very high profile movies at the box office this weekend they were no match for the returning champ, Shutter Island. The re-teaming of legendary director Martin Scorsese and international superstar-actor Leonardo DiCaprio proved successful for the second week in a row as the pair kept their number one spot at the box office this weekend with their psychological thriller. The film, which dropped nearly 50% from its opening weekend actually added 12 theaters and earned $7,393 per each of its 3,003 theaters for a weekend total of $22.2 million, which brings it's total gross to $75 million just shy of it's $80 million production cost. Coming in second in it's debut weekend was Kevin Smith's new buddy-cop movie, Cop Out, starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. The homage to '80s cop comedies made $5,894 in each of its 3,150 theaters for an opening weekend total of $18.5 million.
Also doing well in its premiere weekend was the Breck Eisner directed remake of the George Romero classic, The Crazies, about a plagued small American town starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell. The film, which opened in 2,476 theaters earned $5,894 per theater for an opening weekend total of $16.5 million nearly making back all of it's $20 million production cost. Moving back one place from last week into the number four spot was the film that just won't quit, Avatar. James Cameron's 3D outer-space epic juggernaut was seen in 2,476 theaters and earned $5,700 per theater for a weekend total of $14 million, which brings its total domestic gross to around an incredible $706 million. The film has not only been in the top five on the box office charts for eleven weeks, but has earned nine Oscar nominations, won two Golden Globes and made over $2 billion worldwide now making it the highest grossing film both internationally and domestically of all-time. Finally, rounding out the top five is the Greek mythology adventure film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Lightning Thief based on the popular children's book, directed by Chris Columbus and starring Logan Lerman, Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Sean Bean, Catherine Keener and Ray Winstone. The film, which dropped 35.8% from the previous week was seen in 3,302 theaters and made $2,968 per theater for a weekend total of $9.8 million bringing it's total gross to around $71 million in just three weeks.
Doing very well in limited release again this weekend is the Roman Polanski film The Ghost Writer starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton and Eli Wallach. The movie, which went up an incredible 375.4% from the previous week added 39 theaters for a total of 43 and earned $20,233 on each making it's weekend total around $870,000, which brings it's total gross to around $1.1 million in just two weeks. Also doing well in limited release is the French film A Prophet, which will be competing for Best Foreign Film at this years Academy Awards Ceremony. The film, which premiered this week in the states was seen in 9 theaters and earned $18,889 in each theater for an opening weekend total of $170,000.
Next weekend will see only two new films enter into wide release. First up is Tim Burton's highly anticipated re-imagining of the Walt Disney classic Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Michael Sheen, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Alan Rickman, Christopher Lee, Stephen Fry, Timothy Sprall and Crispin Glover. Also opening next week is the Antoine Fugua directed gritty cop film Brooklyn's Finest starring Ethan Hawke, Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Will Patton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ellen Barkin, Lili Taylor and Wesley Snipes. So please check back in seven days to see who comes out on top at the box office next week.
