1. Dolphin Tale- $14.2M/$38M
Call it a soft week of new releases if you want, the fact remains that Dolphin Tale beat out Seth Rogen, Daniel Craig, and Captain America in it's second week, jumping up from third place to #1. Slipping only 25% and taking full advantage of it's 3500 screens, Dolphin Tale may be around for awhile as long as there continues to be such a lacking in original family entertainment.
2. Moneyball- $12.5M/$38.4M
Holding better than your typical sports drama, Moneyball slipped only 35% from last week, maintaining a pretty healthy positive buzz and generating some serious Oscar talk both on the writing side and for star Brad Pitt.
3. The Lion King 3D- $11M/$80M
Lost about half it's audience, but this release seems poised for another $100M at least this run. Disney will take that every single time.
4. 50/50- $8.85M
Pushing a movie about cancer is a tough sell, but I think the marketing for 50/50 has been spot on and unafraid. So it's to the credit of star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, still building his brand as a leading man, that the film performed as well as it did. With the generally good buzz it's produced, I expect we'll see this one hang around for a little while.
5. Courageous- $8.8M
The highest per-site average of any film in the top 10 is probably also the biggest surprise of the bunch. Courageous is another one of those Christian films, marketed in the vein of 2008's Fireproof($33M total). Sporting no big names and targeted at church groups(much like Tyler Perry films are), the opening weekend is usually very strong and tapers off slowly.
6. Dream House- $8.2M
With Cowboys & Aliens and now Dream House crapping the bed big time, is anybody else starting to question Daniel Craig's box office cred outside of the James Bond franchise? I bet studios are.
7. Abduction- $5.6M/$19M
8. What's Your Number? - $5.6M
Ouch. How bad was the opening for this weak Anna Faris/Chris Evans comedy? It's $5.6M debut is the 5th worse all-time for a nation wide release of over 3,000 theaters. And think coming on the heels of the most successful season ever for R-rated comedies. Anna Faris just isn't that big of a draw unless she's in Scary Movie, and Chris Evans is relatively untested outside of Captain America.
9. Contagion- $5M/$64.7M
10. Killer Elite- $4.9M/$17.4M
