Strong Box Office Numbers Continue For 'Zero Dark Thirty'
By Bill Wine
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Zero Dark Thirty, the docudrama about the search for Osama bin Laden and an Oscar nominee for Best Picture, topped the box office on the first weekend since the announcement of the Oscar nominations, outdrawing the weekend's two new attractions by earning an estimated $24-million.
The debuting releases nabbed the next two spots. A Haunted House, the found-footage horror spoof starring Marlon Wayans, was second. It totaled $17–million. In third place with $16-million was Gangster Squad, the period crime drama with Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn.
Oscar-nominated holdovers claimed the fourth and fifth spots, with the Quentin Tarantino thriller, Django Unchained, taking in $11-million and Les Miserables $10-million.
Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, which leads the Oscar race with 12 nominations, placed eighth, taking in another $6-million, bringing its cumulative total over the $150-million mark.
