Last week's runner-up, the espionage thriller Safe House starring Denzel Washington topped the 3-day Presidents' Day weekend box office with an estimated total of $24 million.  Meanwhile the Marvel-based Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance finished in third place with an estimated $22 million.  In spite of higher ticket prices, Spirit of Vengeance's 3-day total was 52% lower than the first Ghost Rider’s $45.4 million opening in 2007. 

It wasn't the new films, but strong performances from the holdovers that gave Hollywood its second strong weekend in a row with a 9% gain over the same weekend last year when Unknown remained atop the box office charts.

 

The top tier holdovers did especially well.  Last week's top two films Safe House and The Vow switched places with Safe House sliding into first as it dropped just 40% from its opening weekend total.  The Vow fell just 42.7% and finished a strong second, while Journey 2: The Mysterious Island slipped just 26.5% and finished in fourth place just behind Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

 

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): February 17 - 19, 2012
	Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	Safe House	$24,000,000	3,121	$7,690	$78,300,000	2
2	The Vow	$23,600,000	2,958	$7,978	$85,527,000	2
3	Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance	$22,000,000	3,174	$6,931	$22,000,000	1
4	Journey 2: The Mysterious Island	$20,085,000	3,500	$5,739	$53,201,000	2
5	This Means War	$17,550,000	3,189	$5,503	$19,160,000	1
6	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (in 3D)	$7,865,000	2,655	$2,962	$33,738,000	2
7	Chronicle	$7,500,000	2,556	$2,934	$50,979,000	3
8	The Woman in Black	$6,645,000	2,559	$2,597	$45,256,000	3
9	The Secret World of Arrietty	$6,400,000	1,522	$4,205	$6,400,000	1
10	The Grey	$3,032,000	2,107	$1,439	$47,925,000	4

 

It may well be time for Marvel to reclaim the Ghost Rider license from Sony, though since the studio cut the cost of production on the second Ghost Rider film from over $100 million on the first film to a reported $57 million for the sequel, it is possible (though not likely) that Sony could recoup its cost from the Ghost Rider seque.  Was it the lack of production values for the film, which was shot in Eastern Europe that incurred the tepid box office reaction, or was it the fact that audiences are getting tired of star Nicholas Cage's antics?  When the actor can go on Saturday Night Live last week and joke about another "typical Nick Cage performance in which every line is delivered as a whisper or a scream," it might be time for a career reboot.  With a string of recent flops that also includes The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Season of the Witch, and Drive Angry, it would appear that Cage might want to be a bit more selective in the roles he chooses. 

 

The first Ghost Rider has one of the lowest ratings for all Marvel movies on the IMDB data base, so even Marvel Studios could have problems resurrecting this franchise.  Sony handed the reins to the franchise the Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the action movie duo behind the Crank films, but their efforts appear to have fallen short.  The Ghost Rider sequel attracted the right audience--it was 68% male and 48% under 25 (rather typical demographics for a comic book-based movie)--there just weren’t very many of them and they disliked the movie giving it a lousy "C+" CinemaScore.

 

The action/rom com hybrid This Means War debuted in fifth place with an estimated $17.5 million.  The bad news is that the film debuted behind the Ghost Rider sequel.  The good news for the Chris Pine/Tom Hardy/Reese Witherspoon vehicle is that its predominantly older (60% over 25) female audience (65%) liked it, giving it a solid "A-" CinemaScore, which means that this comedy/action hybrid could stick around for awhile.

 

The weakness displayed last week by Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace in its Friday to Saturday drop was born out in its sophomore session, which saw a 65% decline as it took in an estimated $7.8 million.  To put it in context, The Phantom Menace was the only holdover in the top ten to post a decline of more than 42,7%.

 

The non-comic book-based superhero saga Chronicle slipped just 38% in its third weekend and finished in seventh place, just ahead of the Daniel Radcliffe-starring Hammer horror movie, The Woman in Black, which fell just 34.2% and continues to demonstrate much better "legs" than the typical horror film.

 

Debuting in ninth place was the Studio Ghibli film, The Secret World of Arrietty, which earned a solid $6.4 million from 1,522 theaters.  This is the best North American opening ever for a Ghibli film, and the fifth best for an anime film behind three Pokemon movies and the first Yu-Gi-Oh! film.  It demonstrates that the quality anime powerhouse Studio Ghibli is finally achieving some name recognition with American audiences.  Miyazaki wrote, but did not direct Arrietty.  If the master himself writes and directs the right property, it might be possible that Ghibli could score a breakout hit here over the next few years.  Audiences definitely like Arrietty, giving it a solid "A-" CinemaScore, so it is entirely possible that the film, which earned $110 million in Japan, could set a new cumulative box office record for Ghibli movies here in the U.S.

 

Stop by here next week to see if Hollywood's winning streak will continue.