Ah, the irony.
Last night, the entertainment industry feted itself and its biggest, brightest stars at the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. But what was the weekend’s biggest movie? A low-budget, high-body-count, outsider flick that features no stars at all.
Act of Valor doesn’t even feature many real actors: They’re real Navy SEALs—not-so-regular Joes who may not know much about stage direction but know plenty about automatic weaponry. And let’s face it: More often than not, the weekly box-office crown is all about the bang. While Meryl Streep may be able to act circles around these cats, Act of Valor earned an estimated $24.7 million in three days—nearly as much as Streep’s The Iron Lady has collected in nearly two months ($25.7 million).
Given that Valor cost an estimated $12 million to make—most of that being spent on ammo—the folks at fledgling Relativity Media have to be pretty fired up.
Act of Valor’s R-rated heroics were too much for Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds, which scored just $16 million over its opening weekend, the lowest ever for a Perry flick. Still, it was enough to hold off the stubbornly successful Journey 2: The Mysterious Island for second place. Island finished the weekend with $13.5 million.
Safe House and The Vow settled into fourth and fifth, respectively, with House taking in $11.4 million and The Vow pocketing $10 mil. The Vow also became the first film in 2012 to gross more than $100 million.
The weekend’s other two newcomers, Wanderlust and Gone, can only ponder The Vow’s success with bitter wistfulness. Wanderlust’s potential audience apparently experienced a bit of wanderlust, meandering away from theaters to pursue more worthwhile activities: The film finished eighth with $6.6 million. And Gone’s audience simply left, stranding the ninth-place film with a paltry $5 million in its coffers.
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