The fourth installment of the Underworld franchise tried to bring the series back to it’s bread and butter, Kate Beckinsale in skin-tight leather. That was seemingly all you need as the film bounced back from the disappointing third installment and stands tall with a similar start to that of the first two movies.

The estimated twenty-five and a half million dollar haul puts Awakening on pace to top the over all totals of the first and third movies, whether or not it can catch the series peak, set by Evolution, will depend on it’s hold next weekend. The per theater average and total screen numbers are comparable to the second film which performed the best up to this point in the series.

Coming in at an impressive nineteen million is Red Tails, the Lucasfilm tale of the famed Tuskegee Airman. The movie surpassed many expectations and out paced other fighter pilot films by a solid margin. Much like Underworld: Awakening, the critical reception of Red Tails has not been kind, so it will need strong word of mouth to maintain momentum into next weekend.

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The first holiday weekend of the year has come and the big winner was the tender stare of an underwear model. The new Mark Wahlberg actioner, Contraband, came in at number one this weekend with an estimated Twenty-Four million. The impressive total marks one of the highest openings ever for a Mark Wahlberg starring film, and ranks comparably with other January films of this genre.

Coming in at number two was the 3D re-release of the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast. The 3D version raked in eighteen and a half million, which is less than the recent re-release of The Lion King in 3D. Even though the dollars weren’t as good, the sum is still nice considering how long this has been sitting on the shelf. Disney is staying in the 3D reissue business with releases scheduled twice a year for the next few years.

In a number three is the recent box office champ Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which continues to hold remarkably well. It brought in just over eleven million dollars and became the second highest grossing film in the Impossible franchise. This is a big win all around and looks to be a strong start Jeremy Renner’s assault on big budget franchise films.

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Usually January is a wasteland for the box office, dominated by award bait films, studio dump offs and the sputtering remains of the Christmas blockbusters. This week, one new film braved these difficult days and came out with very respectable numbers.

The Devil Inside debuted on over twenty-two hundred screens, bringing in an estimated thirty-four and a half million dollars. The satanic possession horror film raked in the 3rd highest January opening ever behind Cloverfield and  the special edition re-release of Star Wars back in ’97. The movie had a production budget of only one million, which makes this weekend a pretty big win for Paramount.

Coming in second place this weekend was Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol , which continued it’s very impressive run. With another twenty million, it now is on pace to threaten Mission: Impossible 2 as the series’ top grosser. The movie has had several weeks of really solid holds and is proving to be the big winner of the crowded holiday season.

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Those of you who follow our weekly Box Office Report may have noticed that we skipped our report last week. It wasn’t for any other reason than it was the saddest and weakest week that the US box office brought in all year. It was pretty depressing.

We figured, given the fact that two blockbusters (one with a soft opening of 425 theaters) and a kids’ threequal was hitting theaters, there was bound to be a boom in ticket sales. Or so we thought.

This weekend, the big hit (and that’s speaking wildly) was Warner Bros’ Sherlock Holmes 2, which netted only $40 Million. That’s about $20 Million less than the first film brought in on its first weekend.

The margin after that first film was also pretty massive, as Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked pulled in a whole third of their production budget with a total of $23 Million for the weekend. This was the lowest of the three films’ opening weekends, which was about half of both films’ respective opening totals.

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It turns out even decades of laughter through the form of hundreds of felt puppets can’t beat the Kristen Stewart pregnancy movie. After having one of the most intense marketing campaigns that Disney has ever executed for The Muppets, Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 still managed to beat the film in the box office by over $10 million during the holiday weekend.

The vampy melodrama got the #1 spot for the second weekend in a row with $42 million this weekend, while Muppets (which made $42 in total since it opened on Wednesday) was only able to pull in an estimated $29 million. It looks like vampires really are more popular than singing frogs and pigs. Shame.

Also hitting theaters this weekend, Sony’s Arthur Christmas fell flat with an estimated $12.7 opening weekend. Speaking of falling flat, Scorsese’s Hugo had an even weaker opening, as it came in 5th place with just over $11 million.

These films could very well do better as we draw closer to the holidays, but don’t expect to see much in the form of sequels for these family classics. Those films may not have performed as well as they could have, but what did was the Weinstein’s My Week with Marilyn which pulled off just over $2 million for its first weekend.

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This is one of those weekends that proves the merit of the American moviegoer. Will people fill theaters to go see Adam Sandler get in a fistfight with himself dressed in drag? Or will they go see a biopic of one of the most important men in US history?

Looks like it was neither, as people would rather see the next Superman take out Mickey Rourke while a bunch of Greek gods watch from above (not to knock the movie, it was entertaining). Opening in just over 3,000 screens, Immortals made it to the #1 spot this weekend with a reach of $32 million in the domestic box office, and over $60 million worldwide.

Sadly, coming in at a (too) close second, Sandler’s Jack and Jill managed to pull in $26 million this weekend, averaging roughly $7,500 per screen. In second and third are last weekend’s top hits, Puss in Boots and Tower Heist, which are still making strong money.

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After nearly a month of children’s films make the number 1 spot in the box office, we finally get a film that isn’t just appealing to kids, but kids of all ages! That’s right, Hugh Jackman’s robot fighting flick Real Steel managed to pull off the top of the box office with just over $27 million.

That brings the film’s total gross worldwide to a solid $49.4 million, which isn’t bad for the film that was released in both standard theaters and IMAX.

Also hitting theaters this past weekend, the George Clooney written/directed political drama Ides of March was able to start strong with $10.4 million. Not terrible for the worst month of the year for the box office.

After the first two slots, more of the same that we’ve seen for a while now. Dolphin Tale came in at #3 with $9 million, while Moneyball hit at #4 with $7.5 and the cancer comedy 50/50 dropped down to $5.5 million.

Next weekend looks to be the weekend of remakes, as Footloose opens to 3,300 screens, while The Thing opens to 2,900. Also hitting theaters is the Fox comedy The Big Year, starring Owen Wilson, Jack Black, and Steve Martin. Could be a tough call for those who love mediocrity.

Here we are, the end of the summer season, well into the fall box office lull where most movies go to die. Instead of getting another historical drama or disease-based thriller, we’re getting a 3D re-release of a film that came out nearly a decade ago.

That’s right, Disney managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat in getting their 3D re-release of Lion King to open to just over $29 million this weekend, making it #1 by about a mile.

Coming in second place this weekend, Soderbergh’s Contagion took a step down, losing only 35% of last weekend’s weekend pull. The film only walked away with $14.5 million this weekend.

Also opening this weekend, the indie action flick Drive pulled in $11 million in the #3 spot, the Straw Dogs remake only made $5 million for the weekend, which is pretty low considering the True Blood bump the film had.

Next weekend, tons of potential box office surprises. Lionsgate’s Taylor Lautner vehicle, Abduction, hit theaters, as does the family flick Dolphin Tale. For the grownups, Killer Elite and Brad Pitt’s Moneyball hit theaters everywhere.

Steven Soderbergh seems to have found his new Clooney, as Matt Damon has helped the man snag a #1 spot twice now with The Informant! and as of this weekend, Contagion.

Hard to believe a film about a virus wiping out the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Laurence Fishburne could bring in $25 million worldwide in the first weekend, but that’s just what it’s done. Not terrible, considering the film’s budget was a measly $60 million (most of which likely went to the ensemble cast).

Following up in the top 5, The Help finally got knocked from its #1 spot for the first time in 3 weeks and finally hit the $140 million mark. In third, another new release, as the “Rocky of UFC” movie, Warrior, opened to a quiet response, with only $5.6 million.

In fourth place, political thriller The Debt managed to drop off significantly from last week and only pull in an estimated $5 million this weekend.

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There’s no point in expressing how impressed we are when a film is able to stay at the #1 spot for over 3 weeks in a row, but we’re too busy trying to figure out what it is about Buena Vista’s The Help that has netted the film over $100 million since its release 4 weeks ago.

Following the film’s meager $19 million weekend pull, the weekend’s three new releases were not too far behind. It would be good to note that The Help has made just over $125 million worldwide, which is nearly $100 million over the film’s production budget. (Sequel?)

Coming in at the #2 spot, the beginning of our political thriller season starts with The Debt, which opened at $12.5 million. Meanwhile, the two horror films of the weekend, Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D were within pennies of each other, with Apollo opening at #3 with $10.7 million and Shark Night opening at $10.3 million.

Sadly, last weekend’s releases, Columbiana, Our Idiot Brother, and Don’t be Afraid of the Dark all had over a 22% drop and came in under the top 5.

Next weekend, expect a good show from Soderbergh’s Contagion, which is opening in over 3,000 screens. Also, you can see Lionsgate’s Warrior to be a fan favorite, while Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star will open to murmurs.

So it turns out America is a huge fan of heartwarming tales about maids, as indie comedy The Help managed to steal the show once again, claiming the #1 spot for the second time in 3 weeks.

The film has grossed nearly $100 million domestically, and is still growing in popularity, as it beat out Colombiana, Guillermo del Toro’s Don’t Be Afraid Of the Dark and Paul Rudd’s attempt at a quirky indie comedy with Our Idiot Brother, bringing in a total of $14.3 million this weekend.

Coming in second is Luc Besson’s Colombiana, which only managed to bring in $10 million (a quarter of the film’s budget) in the domestic box office this weekend.

Just after that film, the first big horror film of the late summer/early fall season, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, was unable to open big enough to scare the masses, as the film barely managed to break $10 million this weekend, coming in just shy of $9 million.

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If you don’t live in Los Angeles or New York or you do and just haven’t had a chance to go out and see director Asif Kapadia’s Senna, one of the best documentaries of the year about one of the greatest race car drivers of all time, don’t worry. You’re going to get your chance.

How do we know? Well, the doc is doing so well at the LA and NYC box office, averaging over $35K per screen, that the film’s distributor, Producers Distribution Agency, are planning to take it into 11 new markets and put it on 15 more screens this weekend.

“Obviously, we’re thrilled with the opening,” said John Sloss, co-founder of the Producers Distribution Agency in the article. “What it proves, both numerically and anecdotally, is that the film plays well beyond the core. We knew from our advance screenings, to our surprise, that the film played better to women that even gearheads, and they showed up. This movie is much more playable than it is marketable, so we couldn’t be happier with this word-of-mouth base.”

In case you’re not familiar with the film (even though you should be) it “follows the story of Ayrton Senna, perhaps the greatest race-car driver who ever lived. In the mid ‘80s, Senna burst onto the world of Formula One racing. As a Brazilian in a predominantly European sport, he had to fight hard both on (against his nemesis, French World Champion Alain Prost) and off (against the politics that infest the sport) the track.”

That description doesn’t really do the film justice. If you like compelling stories, great characters and fast cars, this doc is for you. Be sure to check it out.