Box Office Update: People Remembered About "Contraband"?

Well it doesn't quite look like "Beauty and the Beast 3D" put up the same numbers as "The Lion King 3D" did back in September. To its credit, the 3D Bluray for for "Beauty and the Beast" was already out, while "The Lion King" still had a few weeks to go. That's probably what stunted the income of it a bit, but it still managed to bring in quite a tasty sum. In number one, quite unexpectedly, was "Contraband". It's interesting, because I didn't think a lot of people really knew what "Contraband" was, but apparently they did. I suppose that's what happens when the dumb trailer plays at every single screening you go to. I wouldn't say to expect it to hold well in the future. You know how these things go. They're big on opening, and then they just evaporate.

"Joyful Noise" seemed to evaporate before it was even released, though now that it's out I can easily imagine family audiences returning to it for weeks to come. I hope not, but that's the way it's likely to occur. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" continue to surge towards their benchmarks of $200 million and $100 million, respectively. As a matter of fact, they should reach that point by this time next week. "Sherlock Holmes" may even take $200 million, if just barely. Overall, this weekend was about exactly in line with the same weekend last year, when "The Green Hornet" was the massive debut of the weekend.

1. "Contraband" (First Weekend; $28.8 million)

2. "Beauty and the Beast 3D" (First Weekend; $23.5 million)

3. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (Fifth Weekend; $14.2 million)

4. "Joyful Noise" (First Weekend; $13.8 million)

5. "Sherlock Holmes" (Fifth Weekend; $10.5 million)

6. "The Devil Inside" (Second Weekend: $9.2 million)

7. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (Fourth Weekend; $8.1 million)

8. "Alvin and the Chipmunks 3" (Fifth Weekend; $7.8 million)

9. "War Horse" (Fourth Weekend; $7.2 million)

10. "We Bought A Zoo" (Fourth Weekend; $6.8 million)