January and February are habitually known as the dumping ground for studios to test out their films that they have less faith in than their major tentpole or franchise films. That certainly doesn’t seem to be the case this weekend, as 2 very different genre film topping the box office.
First, a second generation sci-fi writer, Max Landis’ Chronicle about 3 friends that develop superpowers and figure out which side, good or evil, they want to fight for. The film, which got an 85% on RottenTomatoes, managed to pull in an estimated $22 million this weekend, which is nearly double what the production budget of the film was. Easily, a success.
Also hitting theaters this weekend, Daniel Radcliffe’s first theatrical foray beyond Hogwarts, The Woman in Black, came in on a close 2nd with an estimated $21 million. The film, however, didn’t play as well to the critics, as it only got a solid 62% on RottenTomatoes.
The flop of the weekend has to go to the John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore whale drama Big Miracle, which had a production budget of $40 million, and only managed to open with an estimated $8.5 million. Not a good streak from the star of such films as Something Borrowed and Leatherheads.
Next weekend will be pretty massive, as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson picks up Brendan Fraser’s leftover’s with Journey 2, Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington duke it out in Safe House, Channing Tatum gets Rachel McAdams to fall in love with him in The Vow, and Jar Jar Binks finds a way to ruin Star Wars all over again with Phantom Menace in 3D.
