Film News: ‘Safe House’ Wins Box Office as ‘Ghost Rider,’ ‘This Means War’ Disappoint

Submitted by TimBMartens on February 19, 2012 - 12:59pm

CHICAGO – While the winner of last weekend’s box office, “The Vow,” was not able to win back-back weekends, it was not beaten out by a new release either. “Safe House,” which finished behind “The Vow” as number two last weekend, took the top prize on its second weekend with a $24 million gross.

“The Vow” finished just behind “Safe House” with $23.6 million at the box office, good enough for second place in its second week. While the roll-over films were able to find success, the new releases were quite a disappointment. “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” predicted to be the biggest moneymaker of the weekend, finished in third place with $22 million. When the first “Ghost Rider” came out five years ago, the film made $45.4 million on its opening weekend. “Spirit of Vengeance” couldn’t muster half of that. In fact, since the year 2000, only “Blade: Trinity,” “The Punisher,” “Punisher: War Zone,” and “Elektra” grossed less for a movie based on a Marvel comic.

In other disappointing openings, “This Means War” finished in fifth place with a lowly $17.6 million in its opening weekend. The romantic/action/comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy was met with poor reviews from critics, and moviegoers seem to have either listened to the critics or were not interested in the film to begin with. The final new release, “The Secret World of Arrietty,” finished ninth with $6.4 million, playing in less than half as many theaters as “Ghost Rider” and “This Means War.”

With the new releases of “Wanderlust” “Act of Valor” and “Gone” it is hard to say what the likely favorite going into Oscar weekend is. The only thing we do know is next weekend’s new releases are hoping for a better fate than this weekend’s poor showings.

1. Safe House – $24 million – down 40% — $78.3 million total
2. The Vow – $23.6 million – down 43% — $85.5 million total
3. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance– $22 million – new
4. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island – $20.1 million – down 27% — $53.2 million total
5. This Means War – $23 million – new
6. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (in 3D) – $7.9 million – down 65% — $33.7 million total
7. Chronicle – $7.5 million – down 38% — $51 million total
8. The Woman in Black – $6.6 million – down 34% — $45.3 million total
9. The Secret World of Arrietty – $6.4 million – new
10. The Grey– $3 million – down 40% — $48 million total