Tops at the Box Office: 'Act of Valor' smokes the competiton

1. Act of Valor- $24.7M
The chants of "Hoo-Rah!!" can be heard throughout the hallways at Relativity today, as their military recruitment flick, Act of Valor, blew past Tyler Perry and Jennifer Aniston this week for the top spot. Produced independently by two unknown film makers and with a cast full of real soldiers, the studio bought it on the cheap then gave it a big ol' Hollywood style marketing push, again flying in the face of the film's stated goal. Whatever, this is a clear cut hit for everybody involved and means more high school kids will be tempted by movies from the army and air force now.

2. Good Deeds- $16M
It's easy to say that Good Deeds, the latest film from writer/director/star Tyler Perry, was less successful than usual because it doesn't feature any crossdressing grandmas. There may be some truth to that, as this one is less comical than his Madea movies tend to be, but even an opening weekend like this is a win of sorts. Good Deeds is the second lowest opening of Perry's career, beating out the $11M by Daddy's Little Girls, but this was a more modest roll out than usual. Perry's core fans still showed up to see him truly be a leading man for once, which bodes well when he puts on his detective shoes for the upcoming Alex Cross relaunch.
3. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island- $13.5M/$76.7M
Could I have been any more wrong about a movie? Not only has Journey 2 held better than it's 2008 predecessor, but it's currently the highest grossing movie of the young season. Worldwide it's already well over $230M, which has to make Warner Brothers happy enough to bring Dwayne Johnson back to pop his pecs a second time.
4. Safe House- $11.4M/$98.1M
5. The Vow-  $10M/$103M
6. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance-  $8.8M/ $37.8M
7. This Means War-  $8.5M/$33.6M
8. Wanderlust-  $6.63M
How do you screw up a comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston? Pretty easily, apparently. Universal had no interest in pushing their fish out of water flick for some reason, despite it coming from the same people who took Role Models to unexpected success. They only opened the film in just over 2000 theaters, which was even less than the barely marketed Amanda Seyfried thriller, Gone. For Judd Apatow, this is a rare total misfire for him as a producer, but I wouldn't read too much into it.
9. Gone- $5M
Did you even know this movie existed? Probably not, because the only reason it's here is because someone at Summit is convinced Amanda Seyfried is a box office winner, despite all evidence to the contrary. Red Riding Hood? In Time? What little marketing there was made the film look like it was stolen from the Lifetime Movie Network stock room. Seyfried has five movies coming out this year alone, but she'll likely only find success with two of them....maybe.
10. The Secret World of Arrietty- $4.5M/$14.7M