‘The Vow’ takes early lead on Presidents Day weekend with over $7 million on Friday

The Channing Tatum/Rachel McAdams romantic drama The Vow continues to dominate the box office, starting out this weekend coming out on top of what will be a very competitive Presidents Day weekend. The new film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Safe House were very close behind in a battle for second place. Nevertheless, less than $1 million separate the three films.

Deadline reports that Sony’s The Vow finished Friday with $7.1 million, just over a 50 percent drop from its opening day gross last Friday. The film could make as much as $29 million by the end of Monday, meaning that it could cross the $100 million mark after less than two weeks in release.

Meanwhile, Universal’s Safe House and Sony’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance with Nicholas Cage are fighting for second place. According to Variety, early predictions show that Ghost Rider could finish Friday with at least $6.5 million, while Safe House could finish with at least $6 million. Deadline’s later numbers show that Cage’s film did wind up in second with $7 million and should make $25 million by Monday, while Safe House made $6.5 million and will likely finish ahead of Ghost Rider with $26 million by Monday.

Fox’s This Means War also did well Friday, making $5.1 million. It will probably end up with between $15 million and $19 million by Monday. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island made about $4.5 million, but is expected to have a big weekend with children out of school Monday.

The last new release of the weekend is Disney’s release of The Secret World of Arrietty, which made $1.5 million Friday. It will likely end up with $6 million to $8 million by Monday.