CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box-Office: The Grey Leads the Pack

Seth Paul

He may not be punching out as many wolves as the trailers (and a recent action film reputation) might suggest, but that hasn’t stopped audiences and critics from praising Liam Neeson and The Grey, which made an estimated $20 million in its opening at the box office and is one of the few January releases both critics and audiences seem to agree on. Perhaps it wasn’t as good an opening as Underworld: Awakening, which landed in second place this weekend with an estimated $12.5 million, but it is a solid start, as The Grey reportedly cost $6.5 million to make, compared to Underworld’s $70 million. That doesn’t mean Underworld is in any trouble…with $45 million banked already, it appears well on track to toppling the underwhelming performance of the series’ prequel Rise of the Lycans and might compare favorably against the box office of the 2003 original film. Not faring as well, especially with critics, is One for the Money, based on the Janet Evanovich novel and starring Katherine Heigl. On a $40 million budget, the third place finisher made an estimated $11.8 million, but as it currently stands is more critically slammed than The Devil Inside, which is no easy feat (though to be fair, audiences seem to be a little more forgiving of Heigl and company).

Red Tails isn’t burning up the box office, but isn’t bombing out either, making an estimated $10.4 million and raising its take to around $33.8 million domestic. Even though the Lucas-produced film hasn’t done well with critics it is still flying circles over the debut of Man on a Ledge, which opened to an estimated $8.3 million and more than a handful of poor reviews. The $42 million budgeted film about a man wrongfully accused of a crime has itself been accused of being confusing, though like many of the films released so far this year is doing a lot better with audiences than with critics.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close slipped a few places on the list, if not in actual earnings, with a mild drop to an estimated $7.1 million for the week. However, Oscar buzz has been good for The Descendants, which re-opened in numerous theaters across the country with an estimated $6.6 million. The renewed wide release put it slightly over Contraband, which continues to do very well with an estimated $6.5 million, having more than doubled its $25 million budget in domestic gross. Another re-release, Beauty and the Beast in 3D, made an estimated $5.3 million, making week three of its 3D run of the film a pretty profitable one for Disney. The film has now made $212.5 million in domestic gross since its initial release in 1991, including a short IMAX run back in 2002.

In an interesting turnabout, a January movie that has critics excited is not sitting well with the audiences going to see it…Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire is receiving critical acclaim, but with an estimated $4 million this weekend and $15 million in two weeks, the $23 million budgeted film does not seem to be sitting well with a paying audience for whatever reason.

Weekend Box-Office (January 27th – January 29th)

  1. The Grey…$20 million
  2. Underworld: Awakening…$12.5 million
  3. One for the Money..$11.8
  4. Red Tails...$10.4 million
  5. Man on a Ledge…$8.3 million
  6. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close…$7.1 million
  7. The Descendants…$6.6 million
  8. Contraband…$6.5 million
  9. Beauty and the Beast in 3D…$5.3 million
  10. Haywire…$4 million

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."
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