So apparently Act of Valor was targeting church groups on top of the obvious military demographic as Variety attributes that to one of the reasons the film opened on Friday with an impressive $9 million and should take the weekend #1 spot with something like $25 million. Critical opinion on the flick was weak with a 28% rating at RottenTomatoes, but the Hollywood Reporter reports it has earned an A CinemaScore and is doing particularly well “in the Southeast, Southwest and West, regions rife with military bases.”
In second is Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds, which also earned an A from moviegoers and took home $5.5 million on Friday. I expect it will hold strong over the weekend and end up somewhere around $16 million if not higher.
You then have to travel all the way down to #8 and #9 to find the week’s two other new wide releases as Universal’s Wanderlust took in only $2.2 million on Friday and Summit’s Gone brought in only $1.6 million. Both films are in just over 2,000 theaters so expectations weren’t too high for either title and the fact Gone isn’t doing so hot is even less surprising considering Summit wouldn’t eve screen it for critics, though those that have ventured out to see it have only approved to the tune of a 16% RottenTomatoes rating.
Elsewhere, the Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams-led romance The Vow will hit the $100 million mark by the end of the weekend, becoming the first to do so and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Safe House cross the century mark by the time next weekend rolls around as well.
I will be back tomorrow with a complete weekend box-office wrap-up, but for now here is Friday’s top ten.
- Act of Valor – $9 million
- Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds – $5.5 million
- The Vow – $3.25 million
- Journey 2: The Mysterious Island – $3.2 million
- Safe House – $3.1 million
- This Means War – $2.7 million
- Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance – $2.3 million
- Wanderlust – $2.2 million
- Gone – $1.6 million
- Chronicle – $1 million
