In another decent weekend at the box office, two films did better than expected while the Oscar nominations only gave a little boost to the big competitors. However, grosses were up overall versus last year as the new action drama The Grey, starring Liam Neeson, opened with a surprising $ 20 million. It was the first of three new entries in the top ten. Opening in third with $ 11.7 million was Katherine Heigl’s poorly reviewed action comedy One for the Money which many assumed was dead in the water before it even hit theaters. That was more the case for the third opener, the crime thriller Man on a Ledge with Sam Worthington, as it only totaled $8.3 million…. Looking at the films with multiple Oscar noms, The Descendants and The Artist improved the most as they added extra theaters. For more on their grosses and all the numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here.
TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N The Grey ORF $20,000,000 – 3,185 – $6,279 $20,000,000 – 1
2 1 Underworld Awakening SGem $12,500,000 -50.6% 3,078 – $4,061 $45,126,000 $70 2
3 N One For the Money LGF $11,750,000 – 2,737 – $4,293 $11,750,000 – 1
4 2 Red Tails Fox $10,400,000 -44.6% 2,573 +61 $4,042 $33,780,000 $58 2
5 N Man on a Ledge Sum. $8,300,000 – 2,998 – $2,769 $8,300,000 – 1
6 4 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close WB $7,145,000 -28.9% 2,630 – $2,717 $21,106,000 – 6
7 16 The Descendants FoxS $6,550,000 +176.1% 2,001 +1,441 $3,273 $58,848,000 – 11
8 3 Contraband Uni. $6,500,000 -46.0% 2,650 -220 $2,453 $56,400,000 $25 3
9 5 Beauty and the Beast (3D) BV $5,345,000 -39.1% 2,145 -480 $2,492 $41,147,000 – 3
10 6 Haywire Rela. $4,000,000 -52.5% 2,441 +2 $1,639 $15,279,000 $23 2
