Holdover 'Identity Thief' Steals Anemic Weekend; 'Snitch' And 'Dark Skies' Weak

SUNDAY AM, 4TH UPDATE: Seriously, why do studios open movies on Oscar weekend? With attention otherwise diverted, it's hard for me or Hollywood to care about these two newcomers Friday. Audiences didn't either. That's why the Melissa McCarthy/Jason Bateman frenemies comedy Identity Thief is #1 in its third weekend after going up +63% from Friday to Saturday for $14M through Sunday.

Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate's father/son actioner Snitch (2,511 theaters) opened #1 Friday and dropped to #2 Saturday despite bumping +36%. It logged a mediocre $12.8M weekend. That's a rare failure for Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. (No harm, no foul: I hear he really excels in surefire hit Fast & Furious 6.) Audiences gave Snitch a 'B'  CinemaScore which won't help or hurt the pic.

Dimension Films/The Weinstein Company's new extraterrestrial thriller Dark Skies (2,313 theaters) from Paranormal Activity's Jason Blum fell out of the Top Five altogether by the end of the weekend. It received only a 'C+' CinemaScore from audiences to hurt word of mouth for just an expected $8.4M weekend.

Finally Twentieth Century Fox's first-place finisher from last weekend, A Good Day To Die Hard, fell apart Friday and struggled through Sunday. Guess those horrible reviews finally caught up with it.

Total moviegoing this weekend looks like $99M, down -26% from last year. Here's the Top Ten based on weekend estimates:

1. Identity Thief (Universal) Week 3 [Runs 3,222]
Friday $4.0M, Saturday $6.6M, Weekend $14.0M, Cume $93.6M

2. Snitch (Summit/Lionsgate) NEW [Runs 2,511]
Friday $4.1M, Saturday $5.6M, Weekend $12.8M

3. Escape From Planet Earth 3D (Weinstein) Week 2 [Runs 3,353]
Friday $2.3M, Saturday $5.2M, Weekend $11.1M, Cume $35.2M

4. Safe Haven (Relativity) Week 2 [3,223]
Friday $3.5M, Saturday $4.7M, Weekend $10.7M, Cume $48.2M

5. A Good Day To Die Hard (Fox) Week 2 [Runs 3,555]
Friday $2.8M, Saturday $4.7M, Weekend $9.7M, Cume $51.5M

6. Dark Skies (Dimension/Weinstein) NEW [Runs 2,313]
Friday $3.0M, Saturday $3.5M, Weekend $8.4M

7. Silver Linings Playbook (Weinstein) Week 15 [Runs 2,012]
Friday $1.5M, Saturday $2.9M, Weekend $5.9M, Cume $107.3M

8. Warm Bodies (Summit/Lionsgate) Week 4 [Runs 2,644]
Friday $1.4M, Saturday $2.3M, Weekend $4.8M, Cume $58.2M

9. Beautiful Creatures (Warner Bros) Week 2 [Runs 2,950]
Friday $1.0M (-54%), Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $3.4M, Cume $16.4M

10. Side Effects (Open Road) Week 3 [Runs 2,070]
Friday $1.0M, Saturday $1.6M, Weekend $3.4M, Cume $25.2M

For more estimates listed by title, see box office results here...

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.

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