Summit Entertainment
With Sylvester Stallone and Al Pacino offering box-office duds this weekend, it was a clear path for Summit's "Warm Bodies" to reach number one at theaters.
The three new films out managed to earn a collective $25.5 million.
Warner Bros.' bet on Sylvester Stallone "Bullet to the Head" and Lionsgate's "Stand Up Guys" featuring Al Pacino and Christopher Walken debuted to weak openings. By default, that left Summit's twist on the classic zombie film, "Warm Bodies," to emerge on top.
One of the past few weeks have been the perfect time for one of the distributors to sneak in with an unexpected big film. Last year's box office started out much of the same with poor weekend grosses until "Hunger Games" debuted in March.
A strong debut in mid-January, that isn't a typical horror film, would have the potential of sitting atop the box office for at least a weeks between January and February until an anticipated film were to come out in March.
Next week may fare better for the box office with Bruce Willis' return as John McClane in another "Die Hard" flick.
With a slow weekend, Oscar-nominated films fill out the top ten with only two films falling fall off the list.
"Gangster Squad" took a big dip this week dropping five spots with $1.9 million. It was raunchy, over-stuffed celebrity "Movie 43" that took the biggest hit. The Relativity film dropped nearly 66 percent in week two earning $1.7 million. The film barely earned back its estimated $6 million production budget.
"Argo" just missed making the top ten this week. After its latest wins at the Director's Guild Awards and the Screen Actors' Guild, the film played in 300 more theaters over the weekend, helping it move up seven spots with $2 million in week 17.
See this weekend's winners and losers at the box office:
10. Oscar-nominated "Lincoln" returns to the top ten this week earning another $2.4 million. The foreign box office just helped the film cross the $200 million mark at theaters worldwide.
9. "Les Misérables" stayed stagnant this week earning $2.44 million. Worldwide the film has earned $339.9 million thanks to a big push from overseas.
8. "Django Unchained" makes its way toward the bottom of the top ten in week six with $3 million. Director Quentin Tarantino's highest-grossing film to date is the third Oscar film on this list to earn more overseas than at home bringing its worldwide total to $309.2 million.
7. Jennifer Lopez's "Parker" falls flat in its second week with $3.2 million. Jason Statham's latest action flick is tracking slightly under his 2012 film "Safe."
6. Sylvester Stallone's "Bullet to the Head" takes a hard hit two weeks after fellow "Expendables" co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger's singular film "The Last Stand" tumbled upon release. The film took in $4.5 million opening weekend, Stallone's lowest box-office opening since 2000 film "Get Carter."
5. "Zero Dark Thirty" brings in another $5.3 million to bring its worldwide total to $90.8 million.
4. The Oscar-nominated film isn't Jessica Chastain's only win at theaters. "Mama" is still going strong in week three with $6.7 million. Guillermo del Toro's horror flick has earned $64 million to date.
3. "Silver Linings Playbook" has finally earned $100 million at the box office. Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper's Weinstein Company drama has barely slowed down at theaters earning $8.1 million in week 12.
2. Jeremy Renner's "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" managed to hold on to second place with $9.2 million at theaters. Though the film isn't doing great at home, the film has picked up overseas earning $96.7 million worldwide.
1. Summit's quirky action/drama about a human-turned-zombie-turned-human (think that one through) "Warm Bodies" led the box office with a cool $19.5 million. The film led Fandango Friday representing a third of the ticket-seller's sales.