Jessica Chastain Beats Wahlberg and Schwarzenegger with Mama and Zero Dark Thirty

Actress Jessica Chastain has showed up veteran actors Mark Wahlberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger by besting them at the box office. Twice.

Chastain starred in two movies that are currently holding down the number one and two spots in the box office standings over the holiday weekend. Wahlberg’s latest film Broken City opened to weak numbers and is worst premier for Mark numbers wise in the last ten years, and Schwarenegger’s The Last Stand barely appeared on the charts at all.

The horror film Mama, which had a budget of about $15 million, pulled in $28.5 million from Friday to Sunday, according to the latest estimates. The film is expected to hit $33 million through Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. Mama marks the first No. 1 opener of Chastain’s career.

Wahlberg’s Broken City comes in at number five with a $8.3 million Friday-Sunday take, lower than expected, and marks the lowest wide-release debut for a Wahlberg film since the 2002 thriller The Truth About Charlie. Schwarzenegger’s The Last Stand did even worse, taking in $6.2 million over the weekend. That’s the smallest opening for the form governor since his comedy Junior, which was released nearly 20 years ago in 1994.

Chastain’s other film, Zero Dark Thirty, had a strong second week and took the number two spot with $15.8 million made from Friday to Sunday. The film has made $57 million in the U.S. alone so far.

Isidori Mtabo