Weekend Box Office - 2/19/12

For the weekend of February 17-19.

1.  Safe House - $24 million ($78.3) - 2 wks (U) -40.3%
 . . . 3121 screens / $7690 per screen
2.  The Vow - $23.6 ($85.53) - 2 wks (SG) -42.7%
 . . . 2958 / $7978
3.  Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance - $22 - 1 wk (Sony)
 . . . 3174 / $6931
4.  Journey 2 The Mysterious Island - $20.09 ($53.2) - 2 wks (WB) -26.5%
 . . . 3500 / $5739
5.  This Means War - $17.55 - 1 wk (Fox)
 . . . 3189 / $5503
6.  Star Wars Episode I 3D - $7.87 ($33.74) - 2 wks (Fox) -65%
 . . . 2655 / $2962
7.  Chronicle - $7.5 ($50.98) - 3 wks (Fox) -38%
 . . . 2556 / $2934
8.  The Woman in Black - $6.65 ($45.26) - 3 wks (CBS) -34.2%
 . . . 2559 / $2597
9.  The Secret World of Arietty - $6.4 - 1 wk (BV)
 . . . 1522 / $4205
10. The Grey - $3.03 ($47.93) - 4 wks (OR) -39.9%
 . . . 2107 / $1439
11. The Descendants - $2.93 ($75) - 14 wks (FS) -15%
 . . . 1243 / $2353

For the second weekend in a row, the top four movies each grossed at least $20 million.  I wonder if that's happened before.  Safe House and The Vow will both pass the $100 million domestic mark, and even journey 2 has an outside shot at it if it can keep up its legs.  Lorax doesn't open for two weeks, so it has a chance.

Ghost Rider 2 had a lower budget than the first one, so as long as it does well overseas, it will have been worth it.

The Oscar-nominated films are bouncing around, not really catching fire. If The Artist is the front-runner, it's not getting the same buzz and box-office that movies like The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire enjoyed.