“A Good Day to Die Hard” Debuts High At The Box Office

Action star Bruce Willis new Die Hard sequel A Good Day to Die Hard debuted at number one with $25 million taken in from Friday to Sunday. The new movie has already taken in $33.2 million since opening Thursday for Valentine’s Day to get a jump on the long President’s Day weekend.

The newest addition to the franchise comes 25 years after the original “Die Hard” and six years after “Live Free or Die Hard,” the movie that resurrected the franchise centered on Willis’ relentless New York City cop John McClane. The previous weekend’s No. 1 movie, Universal’s comedy “Identity Thief” starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, was a close second with $23.4 million to lift its haul to $70.7 million.

Debuting at No. 3 with $21.4 million was Relativity Media’s romance “Safe Haven,” starring Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel in an adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel about a woman who flees her abusive husband and takes up with a sensitive widower. Since opening on Valentine’s Day, “Safe Haven” has taken in $30.3 million.

A Good Day to Die Hard did surprisingly well considering all the bad reviews received for the latest installment, which sends Willis’ McClane to Moscow in search of his estranged son, an undercover spy who winds up teaming with the old man against Russian bad guys.

Check out the full top ten list below:

1. “A Good Day to Die Hard,” $25 million ($61.5 million international).

2. “Identity Thief,” $23.4 million ($180,000 international).

3. “Safe Haven,” $21.4 million ($2.6 million international).

4. “Escape from Planet Earth,” $16.1 million.

5. “Warm Bodies,” $9 million ($4.9 million international).

6. “Beautiful Creatures,” $7.5 million ($5.4 million international).

7. “Side Effects,” $6.3 million.

8. “Silver Linings Playbook,” $6.1 million ($6.5 million international).

9. “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters,” $3.5 million ($9.5 million international).

10. “Zero Dark Thirty,” $3.1 million ($2.9 million international).

I.M.