Box office: 'Chronicle' and 'Woman in Black' fighting it out for No. 1 this weekend

'Big Miracle' makes decent showing while 'The Grey' stays strong

By Dave Lewis Saturday, Feb 4, 2012 1:27 PM

'Chronicle'

Credit: 20th Century Fox

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The 2012 box office continues to show strong signs of life as two new genre films overperformed in a close race for the No. 1 spot on Friday. 20th Century Fox's found footage superhero film "Chronicle" just barely topped CBS Films' spooky "The Woman in Black" on Friday, but the race is too close to call for the whole weekend.

"Chronicle," which reportedly only cost $12 million to produce, has already recouped most of that amount by scoring $8.6 million on Friday. "Woman," starring Daniel Radcliffe in his first post-"Harry Potter" leading role, likewise had a stronger-than-expected debut, scaring up $8.3 million. Both films are expected to earn around 19 million for the weekend, but may be hurt by Sunday's Super Bowl game.

Review: Smart and angry 'Chronicle' pushes superhero genre past the breaking point

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This weekend's other new wide release, the family film "Big Miracle" opened in fourth, with a respectable $2.3 million. It was edged out for the bronze by holdover survivalist thriller "The Grey," which added another $3 million to its domestic total, which now rests at $28.3 million. "Miracle" stars John Krasinski and Drew Barrymore.

The Katherine Heigl vehicle "One For the Money" rounded out the top five, chasing down another $1.7 million.

Look for complete weekend estimates tomorrow on HitFix.

Dave Lewis
Producer

Dave Lewis has been a Los Angeles-based entertainment writer and editor for nearly ten years. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, he moved to L.A. in 1996 to attend USC, before working for various periodicals and web sites including a lengthy stint at Variety.com. He joined the HitFix staff in 2011.