Film News: ‘Chronicle’ Wins Weekend Box Office With Surprising Totals

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CHICAGO – In a battle that stayed tight from Mindnight Thursday Night/Friday Morning all the way through Super Bowl Sunday, the new film “Chronicle” edged the thriller “The Woman in Black” to win the weekend box office. The totals for both films surprised many who didn’t project such high totals over the weekend, and puts both films in the record books.

The totals for “Chronicle” and “The Woman in Black” are estimated at $22 million and $21 million, respectively. If these totals are confirmed on Monday, it will be the first time in history that two films breached the $20 million mark on Super Bowl weekend. With a large number of filmgoers staying at home to watch the big game, Super Bowl weekend usually spells smaller totals as Sunday is not a money maker kind of day.

After the top two, last week’s champion, “The Grey,” came in at third with an estimated $9.5 million, followed by the week’s third new release, “Big Miracle,” which came in with $8.5 million on its opening weekend. In the rest of the box office, both “The Descendants” and “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” breached the top ten, still riding on a wave of success from their Best Picture nominations almost two weeks ago.

Will “Chronicle” still top the box office next weekend, or will “The Woman in Black” or the new releases of “Safe House,” “The Vow,” “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” or “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 3D” top this week’s champion. We will have to wait until next weekend to find out.

1. Chronicle – $22 million – new
2. The Woman in Black – $21 million – new
3. The Grey– $9.5 million – down 52% — $34.8 million total
4. Big Miracle – $8.5 million – new
5. Underworld Awakening– $5.6 million – down 55% — $54.4 million total
6. One for the Money– $5.3 million – down 54% — $19.7 million total
7. Red Tails– $5 million – down 52% — $41.3 million total
8. The Descendants – $4.6 million – down 28% — $65.5 million total
9. Man on a Ledge — $4.5 million – down 44% — $14.7 million total
10. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close– $3.9 million – down 44% — $26.8 million total

By TIM MARTENS Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com tim@hollywoodchicago.com