'Chronicle' Triumphs Despite Super Bowl Weekend

FEB 6, 2012 - Even with most people distracted by the Giants or Patriots - or whatever elaborate game day dish they've been working on - this weekend still marked the first time in US history that two movies opened above US$20 million against the Super Bowl.

Based on studio estimates, Chronicle held off The Woman in Black to take the top spot this weekend, though Daniel Radcliffe's first post-Potter outing was impressive in its own right. The weekend's other opener, Big Miracle, was a tad disappointing, but it still finished in line with modest expectations. The Top 12 wound up grossing US$95.9 million, which is up a whopping 31 percent from Super Bowl 2011.

Chronicle is the latest example of the economic viability of the found footage genre—the movie nearly doubled its production budget (US$12 million) through its first three days.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Feb 3-5, 2012 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)

1. (-) Chronicle (Fox) $22.0 million ($22.0 million) 1

2. (-) The Woman in Black (CBS) $21.0 million ($21.0 million) 1

3. (1) The Grey (Open ROad Fillms) $9.5 million ($34.7 million) 2

4. (-) Big Miracle (Uni.) $8.5 million ($8.5 million) 1

5. (2) Underworld Awakening (SGem) $5.6 million ($54.3 million) 3