A combination of its first few days as a wide release, and the buzz it received after the Academy Award nominations were revealed last week, helped Zero Dark Thirty claim the top spot at the box office this weekend with $24 million, according to Collider. The movie has received glowing reviews from critics since it opened in limited release last month, and despite some controversy surrounding the torture scenes in the film, nothing deterred the American public from going in droves to watch Kathryn Bigelow’s take on the Osama bin Laden manhunt.
Coming in second place for the weekend was the comedy spoof, A Haunted House, which managed to bring in $18.8 million. This total was good enough to fight off Gangster Squad’s $16.7 million opening weekend total. Both movies received poor reviews, but critics were especially harsh to Gangster Squad because it showed so much promise early on and failed to deliver.
Rounding out the top five was Django Unchained and Les Miserables with $11 million and $10.1 million respectively. Both films continue to show solid legs since their Christmas Day releases. It also doesn't hurt that they were both also nominated for Best Picture as well.
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[via Collider]
