'Lone Survivor' Ices 'Frozen' To Claim Top Spot
Director Peter Berg's gritty military drama Lone Survivor managed to nab the top-spot at this weekend's box office, raking in a surprising $38.5 million, and knocking last-week's box office champion, Frozen, down into second place.
Lone Survivor, starring Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Taylor Kitsch and Ben Foster, tells the real-life story of a tragic Navy SEAL mission gone wrong, when the small cadre of soldiers was ambushed and all but one killed. The film is based on the memoir of former-SEAL Marcus Luttrell, who was the actual lone survivor of the operation.
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Lone Survivor's wide opening proved to be the second-biggest January opening in history, after the 2008 release of Cloverfield, which opened with $40.1 million.
Disney's amazingly-strong Frozen held on in second place, earning another $15 million during its eight weekends in theaters, bringing its domestic total to over $317 million.
Internationally, the film earned itself another $27.8 million from ticket sales in over 50 markets worldwide.
Scorsese's explosive biopic dramedy The Wolf of Wall Street clawed its way to third place, bringing in $9 million and putting its domestic total to $78.6 million since its release.
The film follows the true story of the rise and fall of the hedonistic, scheming stock broker Jordan Belfort, a man who made himself hundreds of millions through shady stock deals, but whose sex, drug and greed addictions eventually lead to his downfall.
The Legend of Hercules debuted in fourth place, earning 8.6 million off of an estimated $70 million production budget. The film is a CGI-heavy re-imagining of the Hercules legends with Twilight star Kellan Lutz starring as the iconic strongman hero.
And pulling up the rear in fifth place, and tying The Legend sf Hercules, was American Hustle, which also pulled in $8.6 million. However, Hustle's domestic total is now $101.5 million, and the film is surrounded by various award nominations and heavy Oscar buzz.