Weekend Box Office: February 17-19

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Safe House -  $24 million

2.  The Vow - $23.6 million

3.  Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence - $22 million

4.  Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - $20 million

5.  This Means War - $17.5 million

6.  Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - $7.8 million

7.  Chronicle - $7.5 million

8.  The Woman in Black - $6.6 million

9.  The Secret World of Arrietty - $6.4 million

10.  The Grey - $3 million

We had a bunch of new releases this President's Day weekend, so what was the one audiences came flocking to?  The movies that came out last week.

Safe House won the holiday weekend with $24 million, for a 10-day total of $78.3 million, making it Denzel Washington's most successful films to date.  It's also good news for co-star Ryan Reynolds, who desperately needed a hit after several box office misfires last year.

Audiences are also still in love with The Vow, which was certainly helped by some Valentine's Day business during the week and continued strong business in its second weekend.  Domestically, the romantic drama has grossed $85 million so far.

The news was not so great for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence.  Sure, it did make $22 million and come in third for the weekend.  But keep in mind, the original Ghost Rider film earned $45 million on its opening weekend in 2007.  That's not good.  And going by the reviews, neither was the movie.

It looks like the families who spent last weekend enjoying Star Wars in 3D were catching up to Journey 2:  The Mysterious Island this weekend, as that 3D family adventure film dropped only 26% from last weekend to earn another $20 million.  The Phantom Menace, in the meantime, dropped faster than both halves of Darth Maul this weekend, earning $7.8 million.  But keep in mind, that all gets added to what the movie originally earned in 1999, so with $464 million, it becomes the highest-grossing Star Wars movie.

The other new releases didn't fare as well, particularly This Means War, which underwhelmed with only $17.5 million.   Fox did some last-minute shuffling with this one, bumping its original Valentine's Day release to the weekend, but that didn't seem to help, with couples clearly still preferring The Vow as their date night destination.  Disney's Japanese animated import, The Secret World of Arrietty, just barely found a place in the top ten with $6.4 million.  Doesn't seem like much, but the film has already grossed $126 million overseas, so it doesn't really matter.

Next weekend sees the releases of Act of Valor (which stars real-life Navy SEALs), the Amanda Seyfried thriller Gone, Tyler Perry returns with Tyler Perry's Good Deeds, and Paul Rudd and Jennifer Anniston pair up for Wanderlust.  Should be an interesting weekend.