Weekend Box Office Update

Jessica Chastain is having a really great month. On top of her recent Academy Award nomination and the box office success of Zero Dark Thirty last week, Mama easily took the top spot in its opening weekend. The movie had Guillermo del Toro's name and a PG-13 rating to help boost ticket sales, and brought in an impressive $28.1 million.

January has proven to be a great month for horror movies in recent years, and we'd expect to see more studios pushing for January horror releases in the future. Universal will be happy with any new business for Mama after this weekend, as it was produced for an estimated $15 million, but it should continue to do well over the coming weeks and will see a boost tomorrow due to the US holiday.

In second place was Zero Dark Thirty, which earned $17.6 million this weekend and has grossed a total of $55.9 million since opening. Silver Linings Playbook continues to do well, thanks to plenty of awards buzz, and placed third with $11.3 million. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to theaters this week with The Last Stand, which unfortunately did not find an audience and only earned $6.3 million in tenth place.

Next week sees the release of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Movie 43, and Parker. Here are the top ten results for this weekend:

1. Mama - $28,122,000
2. Zero Dark Thirty - $17,600,000
3. Silver Linings Playbook - $11,351,000
4. Gangster Squad - $9,110,000
5. Broken City - $9,000,000
6. A Haunted House - $8,330,000
7. Django Unchained - $8,243,000
8. Les Miserables - $7,800,000
9. The Hobbit: An Unexpexted  - $6,405,000
10. The Last Stand - $6,300,000