“Valentine’s Day” rules at the Box Office

         

Female ticket buyers showed their power at the domestic Box Office once again this weekend as not one but two chick flicks landed in the top five. Leading the way and ranking number one, the new star-packed romantic comedy, “Valentine’s Day” with a huge debut of $52.4 million.   

V-Day is about couples and singles dealing with romance and the pressure of Valentine’s Day.  The cast include big name entertainers like Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah, Shirley MacLaine, Kathy Bates, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempsey, Ashton Kutcher, Jamie Foxx, and Taylor Lautner.

Another new film debuted in second, “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.”  This fantasy adventure snagged about $30.1 million in movie theaters across the country. Logan Lerman stars as Percy, a teenager who discovers he’s the descendant of a Greek God and that sets him on a path of an exciting adventure.        

In third place, the new film version of “The Wolfman,” which earned around $30.6 million. Clearly, some moviegoers were looking for something with a bit more, ah teeth, this Valentine’s Day weekend and this horror thriller grabbed their attention. Benicio Del Toro plays an American who returns to the home of his birth in England because of urgent family business only to be bitten and cursed by a werewolf.

The mega-hit, “Avatar” is still pulling in moviegoers and landed in fourth this weekend. The alien adventure earned $22 million and after 9 weeks its domestic total stands at around $659 million. Rounding out the top five last week’s number one film, the romantic drama, “Dear John” with $15.3 million. In two weeks, this chick flick has raked in $53 million. Once again, chick flicks have proven wrong that old worn, Hollywood adage that quote, “women don’t go to movies.” 

Going back to mid-November of 2009, every number one hit at the domestic Box Office, not called “Avatar,” has been a chick movie, according to a recent article on thewrap.com. The article suggests we’re witnessing the rise of the female-driven blockbuster — something Hollywood executives cannot dismiss as a fluke.