‘Lone Survivor’ Accomplishes Mission, Dethrones ‘Frozen’ At The Box Office

Lone Survivor enjoyed a very successful mission at the box office over the weekend.

Although some industry analysts believed that the Mark Wahlberg thriller would make upwards of $20 million during its first three days in North American theaters, the film went on to make a deeply impressive $37 million from moviegoers over the weekend. This was easily enough cash to knock the family-friendly flick Frozen from the top spot.

According to Box Office Mojo, Battleship director Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor has the second-highest January opening on the books. The 2008 “found footage” creature feature Cloverfield holds the record with $40.1 million in ticket sales.

Based on the book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson, the flick tells the true story of a failed mission to capture or assassinate Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd. Both the movie and the book have received mostly positive reviews from critics.

While Lone Survivor was clearly the most popular choice with audiences over the weekend, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Frozen didn’t make a considerable amount of cash as well. Disney’s latest animated feature generated an extremely tidy $14 million, bringing its domestic total to $317 million.

Unfortunately for a handful of other motion pictures, Lone Survivor easily dominated business over the past three days. Since so many people were interested in checking out Mark Wahlberg’s latest action flick, moviegoers largely avoided Renny Harlin’s The Legend of Hercules and Spike Jonze’s Her.

This year’s first Hercules flick failed to find a foothold at the box office over the weekend. During the first three days of release, the movie earned approximately $8.8 million. Since the movie cost Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment $70 million to produce, this probably isn’t the sort of business they wanted to see.

Spike Jonze’s Her, which expanded to 1,729 theaters on January 10, also failed to connect with audiences over the weekend. The movie took home $5.3 million in receipts, giving it just enough cash to qualify for 11th place.

Lone Survivor may have reigned supreme at the box office last weekend, but the action-thriller will have some serious competition in the next few days. The Nut Job, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and Ride Along are all slated to hit theaters on January 7.

Did you catch director Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor in theaters over the weekend? Do you think the flick will emerge victorious against its cinematic competition over the weekend?