‘Lone Survivor’ Dominates Opening Weekend with $38.5 Million

January is easily the toughest month for the box office. There is no way around it; January is just a tough month all around for receiving recognition. It is very rare for a film released in January to gross over $100 million domestically, usually resulting in mediocre success. Whenever possible, filmmakers should try to hold off until at least February to release a movie that may have potential.

Lone Survivor, the war film that recounts the true story of a Navy SEAL team whose mission in Afghanistan goes awry, has brought in a domestic $38.5 million in its opening weekend.

An impressive number, it managed to dethrone Disney’s money-making surprise Frozen, knocking it down to second place while still grossing $15.1 million (a combined $317.6 million domestic total so far).

This week’s other new release, The Legend of Hercules, made a not-so-surprising $8.6 million in its opening weekend, receiving poor reviews and aiming to be the first flop of 2014.

I was originally skeptical about Lone Survivor, after films like Act of Valor which didn’t necessarily capture a great essence of true war combat. But now with all of the great reviews and ratings for it, I may have to go see it if I get the chance.

Is Lone Survivor on your list of films to see?

Written by Josh Sazin on January 12th, 2014