Update!

Box Office: Bruce Willis' A Good Day to Die Hard Powers Way to No. 1

Action sequel scores estimated $29.3 million over four-day, Presidents' Day weekend; Safe Haven scores solid debut, too, Beautiful Creatures not-so much

By Joal Ryan Feb 18, 2013 5:30 PMTags
A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARDFrank Masi/Twentieth Century Fox

Die hard, indeed.

Bruce Willis' A Good Day to Die Hard battled to a win atop a non-historic Presidents' Day weekend box office, grossing an estimated $29.3 million from Friday to Monday.

Among other new releases, Safe Haven came up bigger than most of its Nicholas Sparks-spawned predecessors, while Beautiful Creatures was no Warm Bodies, much less Twilight.

A Good Day to Die Hard is the third movie in the nearly 25-year-old franchise to debut at No. 1. 

Since opening Thursday, the film, the fifth installment in the action series, has grossed $37.5 million, updated Monday numbers show.

The debut is on the smaller side for a Die Hard once some of the older movies' prehistoric ticket prices are adjusted for inflation. (Kudos to BoxOfficeMojo.com for doing the math.)

The debut is also nothing special for a Presidents' Day weekend, which once saw the ensemble comedy Valentine's Day put together a $63.1 million four-day gross.  

At the same time, the debut is far bigger than recent ones suffered by Willis' Expendables comrades, Arnold Schwarzengger and Sylvester Stallone, who struck out with The Last Stand and Bullet to the Head, respectively.

Safe Haven, meanwhile, which topped A Good Day to Die Hard at Thursday's Valentine's Day box office, settled for third place in the weekend standings. 

The Josh Duhamel-Julianne Hough romantic drama grossed a projected $21.5 million from Friday-Sunday, and $25.2 million from Friday-Monday. The takes put the film on par with The Vow, the Sparks-channeling tearjerker that opened on the same weekend last year. Among films actually based Sparks novels, Safe Haven came up bigger than all but Dear John and The Lucky One.

The witch-populated Beautiful Creatures lacked for vampires (Twilight) and zombies (Warm Bodies), and got left behind with a weak $7.5 million Friday-Sunday.

Elsewhere, last weekend's No. 1 film, Identity Thief ($23.7 million Friday-Sunday; $27.9 million Friday-Monday), stayed strong, while the new animated family film, Escape From Planet Earth, opened OK ($15.9 million Friday-Sunday; $21. million Friday-Monday).

Outside of the Top 10, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained topped $200 million internationally; The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey hit $300 million domestically.

Here's a complete look at the weekend's top movies, per revised Friday-Sunday studio estimates and stats as compiled per Exhibitor Relations. (Projections for the four-day, holiday weekend are also included.):

  1. A Good Day to Die Hard, $24.9 million ($29.3 million Friday-Monday)
  2. Identity Thief, $23.7 million ($27.9 million Friday-Monday)
  3. Safe Haven, $21.5 million ($25.2 million Friday-Monday)
  4. Escape From Planet Earth, $15.9 million ($21 million Friday-Monday)
  5. Warm Bodies, $8.8 million ($10.3 million Friday-Monday)
  6. Beautiful Creatures, $7.6 million ($9 million Friday-Monday)
  7. Side Effects, $6.3 million ($7.8 million Friday-Monday)
  8. Silver Linings Playbook, $6 million ($7.6 million Friday-Monday)
  9. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, $3.5 million ($4.2 million Friday-Monday)
  10. Zero Dark Thirty, $3.1 million ($3.6 million Friday-Monday)

(Originally published on Feb. 17, 2013, at 10 a.m. PT.)