On a weekend when the media is going full tilt on coverage of the Super Bowl, the new film “Warm Bodies,” about how zombies can actually be the good guys now and then, scored  a touchdown of its own racking up $20 million it’s opening weekend. Audience response to the film has been better than expected.

“Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton was a healthy second with $9.2 million. The film’s success almost insures a sequel in the next 24 months.

Oscar favorite Jennifer Lawrence and co-star Bradley Cooper are getting rave audience response in the off-beat love story, “Silver Linings Playbook.” It came in third place over the weekend with $8.1 million.

Another Oscar nominee, (for “Zero Dark Thirty”), Jessica Chastain, is helping the box office potential of the ghostly horror film “Mama.” It took in $6.7 million which put it in fourth place. “Zero Dark Thirty” finished in fifth place this weekend getting $5.3 million. The new film starting Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin, “Stand Up Guys,”  was in very limited release and finished out of the top ten list. The film received uniformly bad reviews, as did Sly Stallone’s “Bullet to the Head” which finished a lowly sixth place its opening weekend with $4.5 million. For more details on the box office statistics from the weekend, click on the link below.

Opening next weekend is a comedy starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy called “Identity Thief.” It is expected to steal its way to the top of the box office.

http://www.boxoffice.com/statistics/bo_numbers/studio_estimate/2013-02-03