'A Good Day to Die Hard' squeaks into first as 'Identity Thief' hijacks second place

With Valentine's Day on Thursday and Presidents' Day on Monday, this was really a five-day weekend, which gave the three wide releases that opened on Thursday a real boost.

A Good Day to Die Hard placed first, earning $29.3 million over the four-day period and $37.5 million since its opening. However, the previous Die Hard movie earned $48 million over
its five-day holiday opening before Fourth of July in 2007. Because of the strong name recognition of the franchise, the fifth Die Hard movie should make up ground overseas, but it appears that this franchise is waning, even enough that it may be another five years before Die Hard 6. Because, really, how could there not be a Die Hard 6?

For romantics, Safe Haven was the Valentine's Day choice, inching out Die Hard on Thursday to place first before losing some steam over the weekend. It ended up third with $25.1 million, but earned a $34 million cumulative total. The Nicholas Sparks brand drew in viewers even though the stars
(Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel) are not necessarily household names. 71% of those that turned out were female, and 68% were under the age of 25.

Safe Haven stole a lot of thunder from Beautiful Creatures. Warner Bros. may have overestimated the appeal of the supernatural romance by placing it opposite a Nicholas Sparks-created offering. The Southern-set tale floundered, earned a quarter of Safe Haven's total on Valentine's Day and ended up with $8.9 million for the weekend, and $11.4 million cumulative total.

While an East Coast blizzard dampened Identity Thief's opening weekend, the comedy was rewarded in its second week by a huge hold, which saw the Melissa McCarthy-led feature lose just a third of its audience for a total of $ million and a second-place finish. When McCarthy pairs up with Sandra Bullock for this summer's The Heat, I fully expect a Hangover-like hit now that the Bridesmaids scene-stealer has proven she can open a film.

The animated Escape from Planet Earth tallied up $21 million over the long weekend, and could do even more weekday business since many kids have Presidents' Day week off. That's a solid debut for the title, which won't be getting much help from critics (just 29% positive).

Thanks to the holiday, most of the top twenty posted below-average drops or even gains. Warm Bodies lost just 22% of its audience, earning another $10.2 million and crossing the $50 million mark. Silver Linings Playbook inched just shy of the $100 million mark by earning $7.6 million over the four-day period.

On Friday, The Rock-led movie Snitch will open wide opposite the thriller Dark Skies. On Sunday, all eyes in the movie world will be turned to the Academy Awards.