While many had tipped Zero Dark Thirty to top the US box office again, the Guillermo Del Toro produced horror, Mama, outpaced expectations to easily win the the weekend with $28.1 million in its first three days. Some had even predicted disaster for Mama, but in the end it gave Jessica Chastain a double whammy, as she stars in both the number one and two movies, Mama and Zero Dark Thirty.
Despite the presence of Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta Jones, Broken City could only make it to 5th spot with $9.0 million, far less than the makers would have hoped, even if January has become a bit of a dumping ground for studio product that they don’t have much hope for.
The final new entry was also the biggest disappointment. Many had high hopes for Arnie’s return to leading action man status, The Last Stand, but in the end it could only gross $6.3 and place tenth on the chart on its opening weekend. It’ll certainly be a disappointment for Schwarzenegger, who was hoping to come back with a bang.
However the biggest winner this weekend was Silver Linings Playbook, which thanks to its Oscar nomination added 1,700 screens and rose up to third place on the chart. It had its biggest weekend yet of $11.3 million on its tenth week of release.
Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of January 18th-20th.
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
| 1 | Mama | $28.1 | $28.1 |
| 2 | Zero Dark Thirty | $17.6 | $55.9 |
| 3 | Silver Linings Playbook | $11.3 | $55.3 |
| 4 | Gangster Squad | $9.1 | $32.2 |
| 5 | Broken City | $9.0 | $9.0 |
| 6 | A Haunted House | $8.3 | $29.9 |
| 7 | Django Unchained | $8.2 | $138.3 |
| 8 | Les Miserables | $7.8 | $130.3 |
| 9 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | $6.4 | $287.3 |
| 10 | The Last Stand | $6.3 | $6.3 |
In its first week of wide release, Zero Dark Thirty has topped the US Box Office chart, taking $24 million as it expanded onto over 2,800 screens from just over a hundred. Its success came as a surprise to many, who’d expected Gangster Squad to top the chart.
There was no doubt that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey would top US the box office in its first weekend of release. The only real question was how big it would be. The film has taken $84.7 million in its first three days, which is a record for a December weekend, beating out the opening of I Am Legend, which took $77.2 million back in 2007.
After spending months flitting from project to project, director David O’Russell finally went into production on a new project recently, The Silver Linings Playbook, with a great cast including Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Stiles and Chris Tucker.
