Box Office Results: January 11-13

The box office results for the weekend are in and while I overestimated the performance of Zero Dark Thirty, it still opened #1 and did quite well.

Kathryn Bigelow’s Bin Laden manhunt epic earned $24 million in its first wide frame, below my generous $29.1M projection. Still, the film looks poised for a healthy run, especially with its strong showing when the Oscar nominations were released (even though director Bigelow was unexpectedly snubbed).

The comedy spoof A Haunted House did way better than I predicted, well exceeding modest expectations. House opened at #2 with an impressive $18.8 million, well above my $10.8M prediction. The film is likely to drop big next weekend, but with a tiny budget, the picture is already a major financial success.

Gangster Squad, with its A-list cast including Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn, had a disappointing third place showing, earning $16.7 million, four million lower than my $20.7M prediction. Pretty much everyone, including me, had it projected opening second. No real way to spin it. This is a weak opening for Squad.

For the four-six slots, Django Unchained took in $11.1 million (lower than my $13.2M projection), Les Miserables made $10.1 million (slightly better than my $9.5M guess), and The Hobbit made $9.1 million (slightly lower than my $9.5M projection). Finally, I predicted last weekend’s #1 Texas Chainsaw 3D would fall big time from #1 to #7. It actually fell even worse, plummeting from the top spot to #9. It earned only $5.2 million in its second frame, lower than my $7.6M projection.

Another note: Silver Linings Playbook saw a 38% boost in its performance, no doubt due to its success with Oscar nominations. It took in $5 million this weekend and will triple its theater count next weekend.

Be sure to check back Wednesday for next weekend’s projections, when the Mark Wahlberg-Russell Crowe thriller Broken City, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Last Stand, and the horror flick Mama all debut.