This weekend, Disney stood defeated and Mark Wahlberg did in fact say hello to a lot of mothers at the box office. Here’s how it went down:
Mark Wahlberg’s latest action flick, Contraband managed to take the top spot at the box office in its opening weekend, bringing in a strong $24 million ($4 million more than my prediction) and nearly making back its $25 million budget. Definitely a strong showing for the film, but we’ll have to see how Contraband holds up over the coming weekends.
Debuting in second place is the 3D rerelease of Beauty and the Beast, which took in $18 million. Based on the performance of The Lion King back in the fall, I predicted a first place debut with $25 million. What I should have taken into account was the fact that The Lion King had not been released on Blu-Ray at the time of its return to theatres, unlike Beauty and the Beast, which has been readily available for quite some time. I wouldn’t be surprised if that played into the strong but not spectacular return for the film this weekend.
The final new film in wide release this weekend was Joyful Noise with Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton. The film brought in $11 million to land in fourth place. I wouldn’t expect this one to be long for cinemas.
As for the rest of the top five, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was in third place with $11.5 million, while Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows rounded things out with $8.4 million.
So, to recap, here were our predictions:
1) Beauty and the Beast – $25 million
2) Contraband – $20 million
3) Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $15 million
4) Joyful Noise – $13 million
5) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – $11.5 million
And here’s how the weekend turned out:
1) Contraband – $24 million
2) Beauty and the Beast – $18 million
3) Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $11.5 million
4) Joyful Noise – $11 million
5) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – $8.4 million
Next weekend sees the release of Haywire, Red Tails, the latest in the Underworld franchise and the Tom Hanks/Sandra Bullock 9/11 film, Extreme Loud and Incredibly Close. Check back on Friday to see our predictions!
