1. Wreck-It Ralph- $49.1M
Was this a great week for Disney or what? Not only did they grab LucasFilm and the juggernaut Star Wars franchise, but now Wreck-It Ralph has debuted to the highest opening for an animated flick in the studio's history. The film was heavily marketed towards old school gamers, a niche audience if there ever was one, so it was uncertain how it would play to families and the younger demo. Turns out they loved it as well, evidenced by an 'A' Cinemascore, which means the film may have long legs like most Disney animated offerings tend to.
2. Flight- $25M
In a distant second but still pulling surprisingly strong numbers was Flight, which opened at a cautious 2000 theaters and earned a greater per site average than the #1 film. While the quality of Denzel Washington's films have gone up and down, his bankability remains strong as he's now had five straight $20M openings.
3. Argo- $10.2M/$75.9M
After hitting the top spot for the first time last week, Ben Affleck's hostage drama continues its streak of incredible holds, only slipping 15%.
4. The Man with the Iron Fists- $8.2M
Martial arts movies are always a tough sell here in America, and it's been ages since one truly made an impact at the box office. That trend continues with RZA's directorial debut, which Universal showed little confidence in by opening at barely 2000 sites after hyping the film endlessly over the last couple of months. Their goal was to play up the Wu-Tang Clan founder's role, along with the connection to Quentin Tarantino. But RZA isn't a household name yet, and Tarantino "presented" films don't have the best track record. Despite the cast, the budget for this wasn't all that big(roughly $15), and it will certainly make that and more once the foreign fun begins.
5. Taken 2- $6M/$125.6M
6. Cloud Atlas- $5.25M/$18.2M
The thought was that some of the strong word of mouth might propel The Wachowskis' ambitious, sci-fi epic, but clearly that's not going to be the case. This one should play well overseas, where it will hopefully make back some of that $100M+ budget.
7. Hotel Transylvania- $4.5M/$137.5M
8. Paranormal Activity 4- $4.3M/$49.6M
9. Here Comes the Boom- $3.6M/$35.6M
10. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D- $3.3M/$13.9M
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