Arnold Schwarzenegger made his big return to acting with his first leading role in years for "The Last Stand." Unfortunately, despite solid reviews for Arnold's return, the big man couldn't overcome the horror movie, "Mama," starring Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain. The Hollywood Reporter announced on Jan. 20 that "Mama" won the box office battle.
"Mama" is a fairy tale styled horror movie featuring two young girls who live in the woods on their own for five years, protected by a dangerous ghost who becomes very jealous when a search party finally brings the girls back home to live with their uncle. Guillermo Del Toro, who is no stranger to fairy tale and gothic horror with "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Devil's Backbone" on his resume, produces the movie.
"Mama" finished the weekend with $28.1 million box office take.
In some very interesting trivia, the top two movies in the weekend's ratings both star Jessica Chastain, as "Zero Dark Thirty" held on with a $17.6 million weekend to continue running strong.
The other two new releases for the weekend were horrible failures.
"Broken City," with a wonderful cast including Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta Jones, limped out of the gate with a $9 million take for fifth place while Arnold's "The Last Stand" only made $6.3 million for a 10th place finish. The poor box office might prove that Schwarzenegger is no longer a box office threat.
Both "The Last Stand" and "Broken City" were Rated R movies, while "Mama," despite being a very scary movie, was Rated PG-13, helping it at the box office.
- Mama - $28.1M
- Zero Dark Thirty - $17.6M
- Silver Linings Playbook - $11.4M
- Gangster Squad - $9.11M
- Broken City - $9M
- A Haunted House - $8.33M
- Django Unchained - $8.24M
- Les Misérables - $7.81M
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - $6.45M
- The Last Stand - $6.3M
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Shawn S. Lealos is a member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle, the professional film critics’ organization of Oklahoma. He is also working on a book about the Stephen King dollar babies called “Dollar Deal.” To read more of his writing, visit shawnlealos.net.
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