Mark Wahlberg beats down the Beast at the Box Office

Hollywood execs were breathing a sigh of relief as the box office was up again this weekend after months of disappointing grosses. Leading the way were three films that slightly over-performed on their expectations. In first place was the new Mark Wahlberg action pic Contraband which took in $28.8 million. That was enough to beat the 3D re-release of the Oscar winning classic Beauty and the Beast which took in $23.5 million, which is quite a feat since the film is 20 years old and has been available on dvd for years…. Opening in fourth was the Queen Latifah/Dolly Parton gospel choir movie Joyful Noise which landed $13.7 million. Fighting for the top ten were the expansion of The Iron Lady (which had a big per-theatre average on only 800 some screens) and We Bought a Zoo (on 2900 screens). When final tallies come in tomorrow, we may see the Lady take that actual top ten spot. For more on all these numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here and check out the top eleven below.
TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Contraband Uni. $28,800,000 – 2,863 – $10,059 $28,800,000 $25 1
2 N Beauty and the Beast (3D) BV $23,507,000 – 2,625 – $8,955 $23,507,000 – 1
3 2 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Par. $14,200,000 -28.5% 3,346 -209 $4,244 $189,447,000 $145 5
4 N Joyful Noise WB $13,785,000 – 2,735 – $5,040 $13,785,000 – 1
5 3 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows WB $10,505,000 -23.3% 3,155 -448 $3,330 $172,105,000 – 5
6 1 The Devil Inside Par. $9,175,000 -72.8% 2,551 +266 $3,597 $47,522,000 $1 2
7 4 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) Sony $8,100,000 -28.7% 2,674 -276 $3,029 $89,281,000 $90 4
8 5 Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked Fox $7,825,000 -17.6% 2,849 -576 $2,747 $120,806,000 $75 5
9 6 War Horse BV $7,166,000 -17.4% 2,856 +73 $2,509 $67,338,000 $66 4
10 7 We Bought a Zoo Fox $6,800,000 -18.1% 2,909 -261 $2,338 $65,289,000 – 4
11 26 The Iron Lady Wein. $6,474,000 +3,570.6% 802 +797 $8,072 $7,062,000 – 3

Happy Birthday Dolly!

Just two days after the iconic multiple Emmy winning TV superstar Betty White (who I’ll be appearing with on her show Hot in Cleveland on 2/2/11)  turned 89, another iconic and talented lady is having a birthday. Today is Miss Dolly Parton’s 65th birthday! Can you believe this Oscar nominated, Grammy winning star is actually 65? And she still looks as great as ever. Happy Birthday Dolly!

Here’s a little Dolly for ya too…