“Wreck-It Ralph” burst into the theaters this weekend and snagged the top box office spot. “Wreck-It Ralph” generated $49.1 million this weekend and broke the record for Disney’s biggest box office opening, a title that belonged to 2010’s Tangled. “Ralph” also got rave reviews from critics, earning an impressive 84 points from Rotten Tomatoes. “Wreck It Ralph” is about a video game villain that is trying to change his ways. This animated feature is sure to excite kids but appearances from old school video game characters like Pacman will probably amuse 80’s and 90’s kids.
“Wreck-It Ralph” was followed by “Flight” which nabbed $25 million. That number is impressive since the film was released on less than 2,000 screens. “Flight” stars Academy Award winner Denzel Washington as an alcoholic pilot that saved most of his passengers from a fiery death via an emergency landing. This movie has also scored positive reviews and has Hollywood insiders talking about the possibility of Washington winning another Oscar.
Argo, which held the top spot last week, was bumped down to the third spot and pulled in $10.2 million. The movie was released three weeks ago and its total is currently $75.9 million.
The highly anticipated “Man With The Iron Fists” was also released this week and nabbed a modest $8 million, putting it in fourth place. However, it wasn’t a total disappointment since the movie’s budget was only $15 million. “Iron Fists” has received mixed reviews with one reviewer calling the martial arts flick “ridiculous but entertaining” and Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 55 on their Tomatometer. It will be interesting to see how this movie performs considering the newest James Bond movie, Skyfall, will be released next week.
“Taken 2” rounded out the top five with $6 million in its fifth week of release. “Taken 2” has received an impressive $125 million in profits, making it the highest grossing movie in the top five and the second highest grossing movie out of the top ten.