The surprise box office winner for the first weekend in January was Texas Chainsaw 3D. The horror sequel sold over $23 million in tickets, which was 50% more than predicted. Late last week, pre-release audience surveys suggested it would earn around $15 million. A strong opening for sure, but not enough to topple Django Unchained, Les Miz or The Hobbit.
In exit interviews, the vast majority of those who went to see Chainsaw were under
the age of 25, and one-third said they went to the movie specifically because rapper Trey Songz is in it.
This is only his third film appearance, but the next one, Baggage Claim, is already in post-production. You can bet the calls are going to start coming in to his agent now.
The Hobbit, which had been the top movie for three straight weekends, dropped to third with $17.5 million. That raised its total to $263.8 million.
Django Unchained remained in second with $20.1 million. That pushed its haul over the $100 million mark.
Les Miserables dropped from third to fourth with $16.1 million. The musical has also now banked more than $100 million.
Parental Guidance fell from fourth to fifth with $10.1 million.
