The movie Red Tails surprised many critics with it’s strong debut this week coming in at #2. Four new movies were released this weekend, and the established fan base of Underworld was figured to run-away with the first weekend sales. This was not the case.
Red Tails cruised into second place with a very respectable $19.1 million thanks to a strong buzz from facebook and twitter users. The African American community was set to come out and support after news broke that Hollywood would not put up the money because of the all black cast in leading roles. Viewers Friday sent a loud message to Hollywood.
The community came out in droves, but audiences were mixed with all ethnicities interested in the real life account of the Tuskegee airmen. To put the accomplishment into perspective we can look at what other airplane fighter pilot movies have done in their first week.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ($15.6 million), Stealth ($13.3 million), and Flyboys ($6 million), though it was about even with Sky Captain in estimated attendance. The audience breakdown was 51 percent male and 66 percent 25 years and older. The movie received an “A” CinemaScore, which improved to a fantastic “A+” score for those below 18 and above 50. Also of note: Red Tails marks distributor 20th Century Fox’s best opening for a non-franchise title since last April’s Rio.
Underworld Awakening took home the top spot at the box office this weekend with 25.4 million, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Haywire were less impressive, though, and The Artist failed to gain much traction in its nationwide expansion. The Top 12 movies this week earned an estimated $111.7 million this weekend, which is up a whopping 26 percent from the same period last year.
