‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Takes Number One Spot At Box Office

As predicted, Zero Dark Thirty took the number one spot at the box office. The Academy Award nominated film expanded nationwide following a limited release in selected cities.

The movie earned $24 million in the United States and Canada over the weekend for a four week total of $29.5 million. The drama about the hunt for Taliban leader Osama Bin Laden stars Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, and Mark Strong, and was directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Bigelow won best picture with “The Hurt Locker’ in 2009, and hopes to receive the same honor for her follow up film “Zero Dark Thirty”.

“A Haunted House” which is a horror movie spoof, earned the number 2 spot with $18.8 million against it reported production budget of only $2.5 million. The film was co-written by “Scary Movie 2” veteran Marlon Wayans , who also stars in the film. Cedric the Entertainer, J.B. Smoove,  and Adam Sandler makes appearances in the film as well.

Crime drama “Gangster Squad” got the number 3 spot despite it’s A-list cast such as Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone. The film earned $16.7 million in it’s opening weekend. Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” stays in the top five as the number four movie, earning $11 million in its third weekend. The film makes an career-best for Tarantino with $125 million gross. “Django Unchained” received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for Christopher Waltz.

“Les Miserable” round up the top five with an earning of $10.1 million over the weekend. It’s total earnings are 119.2 million. Anne Hathaway won Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes on Sunday.

Shanika Simmons