Weekend Estimates: Act of Valor Scores Strong Win

February 26, 2012

This weekend's box office charts will feature two hits and two misses, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Very much in the hit column, and leading the weekend overall, is Act of Valor, a reality-tinged actioner from Relativity that is set to open with around $24.7 million, which is on the high end of expectations. With a $13 million acquisition cost and $30 million committed to marketing, Relativity should see a profit from the film after several recent misses. In second place, Tyler Perry's Good Deeds will pick up around $16 million for the weekend, which is on the low side for Perry -- in fact it will most likely be his worst opening weekend ever -- but will still earn money in the end thanks to a low production and marketing budget.

The two films firmly in the "miss" column this weekend are Wanderlust with about $6.6 million, and Gone with $5 million. Although both films played in relatively few theaters, and were not huge risks for the distributors, they will both be very quickly forgotten.

One other new release will make the top 20: ice hockey comedy Goon opened in 258 theaters in Canada, and is set for about $1.27 million. The film will open in the US on March 30.

Oscar weekend provided a boost for two films heavily-favored to win Best Picture gongs: The Artist is expected to earn around $3 million, and Best Foreign Language nominee, A Separation, is projected to pick up about $420,000 in 83 venues.

On the subject of the Oscars, don't forget to enter your predictions in our annual Oscar contest before noon. We'll announce our predictions for the winners this afternoon and C.S. will be live-blogging the ceremony itself.

- Weekend Estimates

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Goon, Wanderlust, Gone, Tyler Perry's Good Deeds, Act of Valor, Jodaeiye Nader az Simin, The Artist