Box Office Report: ‘Underworld: Awakening’ Holds Off ‘Red Tails’ And Takes The Weekend

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.

Last weekend’s champ Contraband fell just under fifty percent, bringing it’s two-week total up to forty-six million. Contraband is going to speed past other Mark Wahlberg staring features such as Shooter and Invincible in the next week and eventually settle into a top ten earner for Marky Mark’s career.

The strangle hold Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol has had over the top three has ended this week, as the film slipped all the way down to eighth for the weekend. The action sequel is still within striking distance of the series peak, but with the international gross as strong as it is the total gross should surpass Mission: Impossible 2 in a matter of weeks.

Next weekend brings a trifecta of big titles that should dominate the weekend. The Grey starring Liam Neeson, Man on a Ledge starring Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks, and One for the Money a Katherine Heigl vehicle are all opening wide.

1 Underworld: Awakening – $25,400,000
2 Red Tails – $19,100,000
3 Contraband – $12,240,550
4 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – $10,545,000
5 Haywire – $9,000,000
6 Beauty and the Beast 3D – $8,556,000
7 Joyful Noise – $6,075,000
8 Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $5,540,000
9 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – $4,805,000
10 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) – $3,750,000