Big Weekend at the Movies

Didja go to the movies this weekend? Any trouble parking? Were there long lines for tickets? It seems like sometime on Friday or Saturday everyone in America looked at everyone else and said, "Hey, let's go see a movie!" and presto, just like that, we had one of the biggest February movie going weekends ever. Big winner was The Vow, scoring about a third more box office coin than anyone expected , but it was closely followed by Safe House, which nearly doubled its predicted take. Biggest surprise was Journey 2: Mysterious Island, which confounded prognosticators by doubling its business between Friday and Saturday; seems like good word of mouth and Dwayne Johnson propelled this one into a respectable third place finish, beating out Phantom Menace 3D, the only new opening whose business lined up with expectations. Among holdovers, Chronicle and Woman in Black held their own.

Minor historical note: if you don't count holiday weekends, this is the first time ever that four films earned more than $20 million in their opening sets.

Here's the list:

1. "The Vow" (Sony/Spyglass): $41.7 million.

2. "Safe House" (Universal/Relativity): $39.3 million.

3. "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" (Warner Bros.): $27.6 million.

4. "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace" (Fox/Lucasfilm): $23 million.

5. "Chronicle" (Fox): $12.3 million. Domestic total: $40.2 million.

6. "The Woman in Black" (CBS Films): $10.3 million. Domestic total: $35.5 million.

7. "The Grey" (Open Road): $5.1 million. Domestic total: $42.8 million.

8. "Big Miracle" (Universal): $3.9 million. Domestic total: $13.2 million.

9. "The Descendants" (Fox Searchlight): $3.5 million. Domestic total: $70.7 million.

10. "Underworld: Awakening" (Sony/Lakeshore): $2.5 million. Domestic total: $58.9 million.