Box office: 'Die Hard' and 'Safe Haven' neck and neck on Friday

Strong holdover 'Identity Thief' makes it a three-way race for No. 1

By Dave Lewis Saturday, Feb 16, 2013 1:29 PM

'Safe Haven'

Credit: Relativity Pictures

It was the battle of the Valentine's Day releases Friday night at the box office, where "A Good Day to Die Hard" and "Safe Haven" were virtually tied.

Bruce Willis' latest "Die Hard" adventure pulled in about $7.2 million, while the romantic drama, which stars Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel, earned $7.1 million. Both films opened on Thursday night in order to draw the date crowd. With the added holiday of President's Day on Monday, both films are looking to crack the $30 million mark for the five-day frame.

Meanwhile, holdover "Identity Thief" earned another $6.5 million (bringing its total to $53.7 million), and is also in play for the top spot over the weekend.

TWC's 3D animated "Escape From Planet Earth" saw a solid Friday debut, pulling in around $3.7 million. It features the voices of Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry, Ricky Gervais, Jessica Alba and Sofia Vergara.

The zombie romance "Warm Bodies" rounded out the top five, earning $2.6 million. It's domestic gross now stands at $43.8 million. Meanwhile, another YA-derived fantasy-romance, "Beautiful Creatures" -- which also opened on Valentine's Day -- earned a disappointing $2.3 million. Since Thursday, it has earned just $4.8 million.

David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook" (also from TWC) continues its slow and steady march to the $100 million mark. The multiple Oscar nominee earned another $1.4 million, for a current domestic total of $93.8 million.

Look for complete weekend estimates Sunday 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.