Box Office Update: Sandler ≥ Bieber

After several depressing weekends at the box office, none of which were boosted by any bouts of quality cinema. In at least one respect, this weekend was a step in the right direction. It was a tight race for the top spot, and Adam Sandler came out on top of the Valentine's Day box office with the romantic comedy Just Go with It. There was a pretty modest increase from Friday to Saturday, so it's a safe bet that it'll persevere through the coming weeks. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never came rather front-loaded on Friday, causing an 11% drop on Saturday. Concert films like this are usually hits for one week before generally disappearing, so I'd expect a similar outcome here.

The real surprise of the weekend was Gnomeo and Juliet coming in third with $25.5 million, making it the highest grossing narrative 3D of this year so far. That's not necessarily saying much, but if kids keep heading out to see it, as we know they will, it shouldn't drop more than 30% per week. The weakest of the new releases was The Eagle, so it seems that Channing Tatum's grizzled exterior can only do so much to draw in the female audience members, and the promise of a roman action film has lost its taste on young men. Most traces of the post-2010 Oscar film boost has faded from the top ten, aside from Best Picture frontrunner The King's Speech. Ultimately, this weekend was still down nearly 30% from where it was last year, when Valentine's Day opened in first, but it's headed in the right direction towards rejuvenation. It's going to be an uphill battle from here on out.

1. Just Go with It (First Weekend; $31 million)
2. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (First Weekend; $30.2 million)
3. Gnomeo and Juliet (First Weekend; $25.5 million)
4. The Eagle (First Weekend; $8.6 million)
5. The Roommate (Second Weekend; $8.4 million)
6. The King's Speech (Twelfth Weekend; $7.4 million)
7. No Strings Attached (Fourth Weekend; $5.6 million)
8. Sanctum (Second Weekend; $5.1 million)
9. True Grit (Eight Weekend;$3.7 million)
10. The Green Hornet (Fifth Weekend; $3.6 million)