"Zero Dark Thirty" Takes #1

Kathryn Bigelow is back, and her newest military-themed film easily took the #1 spot at the Box Office last weekend.

Zero Dark Thirty - a movie based on the real life assassination of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs - opened last month in a limited run, but in its wide release last weekend it hauled in a very nice $24 million domestically and $1.2 million internationally. What makes that even more interesting is the fact that the movie has recieved mixed reviews because of some graphic torture scenes.

Despite the torture, though, Zero Dark Thirty has been nominated for five Oscars (click here to see the complete list of nominees), and distributor Sony seems to be pretty proud of it.

The Hobbit, on the other hand, has dropped down to the #6 position at the Box Office, earning just $9 million domestically last weekend. It's still hanging on in the running, but I'm thinking that it won't be in the Top Ten for longer than three more weeks.

And that's a little sad, honestly, since it's such a beautiful movie. I also think it's a shame that it didn't have more than three Oscar nominations. But we can always hope that the next two films will do even better (just like how it was for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with The Return of the King practically wiping the Oscar board in 2003). Fingers crossed!

"Overall business in North America this weekend came in at $142 million, up more than 7 percent from the same period last year, when the Mark Wahlberg thriller 'Contraband' led the box office with $14.3 million," according to the Star Tribune. Honestly, I think it's pretty cool that even during recessions the film industry continues to grow more and more powerful. I mean, honestly, what other business can do that? Films have massive staying power, and I think that's pretty awesome.


Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday January 11th through Sunday January 13th at U.S. and Canadian theaters (courtesy of the Star Tribune):

1. Zero Dark Thirty - $24 million ($1.2 million international)
2. A Haunted House - $18.8 million
3. Gangster Squad - $16.7 million
4. Django Unchained - $11 million
5. Les Miserables - $10.1 million
6. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - $9 million ($26.1 million international)
7. Lincoln - $6.3 million
8. Parental Guidance - $6.1 million
9. Texas Chainsaw 3-D - $5.1 million
10. Silver Linings Playbook - $5 million


Before I end this post, I just wanted to ask you guys to weigh in on something. If you listened all the way through my latest podcast, you probably heard me mentioning doing something special for the Oscars on February 24th. I was given the suggestion of live streaming my reactions to the ceremony, and I'd like to know what you guys think of that. It would basically be just me watching the Oscars and commenting about whatever would come to my mind (I can't actually live stream the actual Oscar footage due to copyrights, but you could tune in on your own TV and/or computer so you could watch it with me).

Would you guys like that, or would you prefer that I just write up a post about the winners after the fact, or do you have another idea you'd like to share?




 - Edessa, signing off