"The Grey" -- Open Road Films' second release ever
-- took a surprising $20 million at the domestic box office this weekend, making
it the top movie in the country.
While Open Road targeted men in its R-rated action drama about an oil
drilling team that is pursued by a pack of wolves after an airplane crash in
Alaska, Lionsgate went after a different audience with its PG-13 comedy "One for the Money."
The strategy worked: "One for the Money," based on the Janet Evanovich novel,
debuted to $11.75 -- exceeding projections by almost $2 million. The $11.75
million made it the No. 3 movie in America -- just behind Sony's "Underworld: Awakening."
While "The Grey" and "One for the Money" debuted to better-than-expected
numbers, the 11-week-old "The Descendants" enjoyed a significant bump after
going wide for the first time, and grossed $6.6 million. Fox Searchlight
expanded the number of locations showing the movie by 1,441 -- to 2,001.
Meanwhile, Paramount's "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" became the
highest-grossing film of that franchise. In its seventh week, the movie crossed
the $200 million mark domestically and hit $571 million worldwide. The 2000
"Mission: Impossible II" had been the top-earner in the franchise, with $546
million.
