‘Underworld: Awakening’ tops box office with $25.4 million while ‘Red Tails’ exceeds predictions

This past weekend at the box office was strong as two major new releases, Underworld: Awakening and Red Tails, battled for first place. Kate Beckinsale’s supernatural film with vampires and werewolves came out on top, though, beating the George Lucas-produced World War II drama.

The fourth Underworld film, third with star Beckinsale in the lead role, finished the weekend with $25.4 million, according to Entertainment Weekly. The film, which was released in IMAX and in 3D, cost Sony’s Screen Gems $70 million to make, but has earned a decent A- CinemaScore from audiences, so it is likely to recoup that cost. Awakening also did slightly better than the last Underworld film, Rise of the Lycans, which did not star Beckinsale. That 2009 film grossed $20.8 million in its opening weekend. Still, Awakening did worse than the first two films of the series. Evolution started with $26.9 million in 2006, while the first film made $51.8 million in its first weekend in 2003.

Red Tails came in second with a surprising $19.1 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film cost Lucas $58 million to make, plus an additional $38 million in distribution costs. Fox, which also released the Star Wars films, is distributing the film, which stars an all-black cast including Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding, Jr. It also received an A CinemaScore from audiences.

Contraband, with Mark Wahlberg and Beckinsale, was last week’s number one film. This week, it slid to third, taking in $12.2 million, reports The Associated Press.

Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close finally had its wide release after being in limited release since Christmas. The 9/11 drama with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock came in fourth with just $10.5 million. As BoxOfficeMojo notes, the film was the least attended major debut for a Bullock film and proved to be Hanks’ second-straight disappointment after this summer’s Larry Crowne.

The rest of the top ten includes Steven Soderbergh’s new Haywire, which opened to the tune of $9 million, and Beauty and the Beast in 3D with $8.6 million. Joyful Noise had $6.1 million, while Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol had $5.5 million. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows had $4.8 million and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had $3.8 million.

As the Hollywood Reporter notes, the total box office numbers were up a full 30 percent over this time last year.