Weekend Box Office Actuals: February 10 - 12

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Vow - $41.2 million

2.  Safe House - $40.1 million

3.  Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - $27.3 million

4.  Star Wars Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace - $22.4 million

5.  Chronicle - $12 million

6.  The Woman in Black - $10.1 million

7.  The Grey - $5 million

8.  Big Miracle - $3.9 million

9.  The Descendants - $3.4 million

10.  Underworld Awakening - $2.4 million

This is one of those weekends were everyone gets a trophy for participating, especially (as much as it pains me to say it), The Vow, which celebrated Valentine's Day with the biggest opening weekend of 2012 so far with $41.2 million.  Loosely based on the true story of an amnesiac wife "re-meeting" her husband after a car accident, the film is the first romantic drama to open in theaters in awhile...so audiences flocked to it.  Obviously.

Denzel Washington had a good weekend as well, with Safe House opening above expectations with $40.1 million.  Ryan Reynolds can breathe a little easier now too - he's finally starring in a movie that didn't crash and burn like his past few films have (although Denzel was clearly the draw here).

The battle of the 3D family films provided some healthy box office too, as Journey 2: The Mysterious Island surprisingly managed to fend off Star Wars to win the race with $27.3 million, which is even higher than the $21.02 million that the original Journey to the Center of the Earth film earned on its opening weekend in 2008.

The first of the six planned 3D re-releases of the Star Wars films kicked off this weekend, and it did all right, as the much-maligned Episode 1: The Phantom Menace opened with $22.4 million.  Seems like enough families were willing to put up with Jar Jar Binks in 3D for the opportunity to take their kids to see Star Wars on the big screen for the first time (hard to believe this movie is already 13 years old).  In fact, the opening was good enough to bump Phantom Menace from seventh to fifth place on the all-time domestic list with $453.6 million.

Last week's two big winners held up well in their second weekend, as Chronicle dropped only 45% to earn $12 million.  Good word-of-mouth is turning that one into a decent hit.  The Woman in Black dropped a little more at 52% to earn $10.1, but that's not bad for a horror movie, since usually drop like a rock in their second weekend.  Both movies cost pocket change to make, so the box office is good news for both films.

Next weekend sees the releases of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengance (no, I don't know why either), the action comedy whose trailer has been in front of every movie I've seen for the past two months, This Means War, and the animated The Secret World of Arrietty.  It's also Oscar weekend, so this week is a good time to hurry up and catch up to the nominated movies too.