'Safe House' Slides To The Top

FEB 20, 2012 - After finishing in third on Friday, Safe House played well on Saturday and edged past The Vow and the disappointing Ghost Rider sequel to claim first place for the first three days of Presidents Day Weekend.

Journey 2 had a great hold in fourth, while This Means War opened decently in fifth. The Top 12 earned an estimated $144 million, which is an 11 per cent improvement from the same weekend last year.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance flamed out this weekend with a meek US$22 million start at 3,174 locations (2,352 of which showed the movie in 3D). That opening is less than half the three-day start of the original Ghost Rider on the same weekend in 2007 (US$45.4 million), which is a nearly unprecedented drop for a sequel.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Feb 10-12, 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. (2) Safe House (Uni.) $24.0 million ($78.3 million) 2

2. (1) The Vow (S.Gem) $23.6 million ($85.5 million) 2

3. (-) Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Sony) $22.0 million ($22.0 million) 1

4. (3) Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (WB) $20.0 million ($53.2 million) 2

5. (-) This Means War (Fox) $17.5 million ($19.1 million) 1