The holiday weekend is off and running at the box office, and it’s a battle of brawn over sap as A Good Day to Die Hard and Safe Haven are neck-and-neck for the top spot.  The fifth entry in the Die Hard franchise netted near-universal negative reviews, and now the pic is performing slightly under expectations at the box office as the actioner took in an estimated $7.2 million on Friday to add to its $8.2 million take on Valentine’s Day Thursday.  Nipping at Die Hard’s heels is the Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven, which scored an estimated $7.1 million on Friday to combine with its $8.8 million gross on Thursday.  Warner Bros.’ YA adaptation Beautiful Creatures, however, fell flat with a paltry $2.3 million on Friday that puts it in the number 6 slot overall and on track for a very low $11.5 million weekend.  All of this despite the fact that Beautiful Creatures garnered considerably more positive reviews than both Die Hard and Safe Haven.  We’ll have full details tomorrow.

Though much of the Northeast is still drowning under an ocean of snow, Blizzard Nemo didn’t sink the national box office. In first place, Identity Thief took in an estimated $36.5 million, for the highest three-day total so far this year. The R-rated comedy is looking like a solid hit – coming in 40% higher than first projected and 73% higher than Side Effects, the weekend’s only other wide release.

It wasn’t even close. Against a handful of holdovers and one weak new release, Summit Entertainment’s Warm Bodies walked off with this year’s Super Bowl box office prize. From 3,009 locations, the zombie comedy earned an estimated $20 million – more than twice the total of the number two title. Bullet to the Head, the frame’s only other wide release, took in just $4.5 million from 2,404 locations for a sixth place finish.

After three relatively strong frames, a January chill has hit the box office. Three new titles opened nationwide but only one managed to top $10 million: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters with an estimated $19 million from 3,372 locations. That was good enough for first place and higher than Friday’s results suggested, but it was not high enough to put a positive spin on the weekend.

Here’s something you don’t hear very often: “It was a good week for strong women at the box office.” Up against two new, male-driven action movies, actress Jessica Chastain claimed first and second place with Mama and Zero Dark Thirty. Chastain’s fellow Golden Globe winner, Jennifer Lawrence, took third with Silver Linings Playbook – ahead of Gangster Squad and the big name boys that launched debuts on Friday. Both Broken City (with Mark Wahlberg) and The Last Stand (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) were disappointments – though, fittingly, Arnold’s was on a much more epic scale.

In its first weekend in wide release, Zero Dark Thirty easily captured first place with an estimated $24 million from 2,937 locations. With months of press coverage, great reviews and a Best Picture nomination behind it, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the CIA thriller won the frame. A bit more surprising is the position claimed by A Haunted House. The low-budget genre spoof overcame the higher-profile (and higher-budgeted) Gangster Squad for second place at this weekend’s box office.

Texas Chainsaw 3D, the R-rated franchise title from Lionsgate, managed to wrest the top spot away from The Hobbit and Django Unchained on 2013’s inaugural weekend. The horror film’s estimate of $23 million from 2,654 locations was a bit higher than expected, though probably not high enough to ensure box office longevity. Leatherface aside, the New Year looked suspiciously like Christmas as holiday-holdovers stretched their legs.

It’s January 1, 2013, which means that 2012 is now officially in the rear-view mirror.  Quality-wise, it was a stellar year in film, and with over a month to go before the Oscars there’s still an exciting air of unpredictability surrounding the awards contenders.  2012 wasn’t so shabby box office-wise either, and we thought today would be a nice time to take a look back at the year’s highest grossing films, lowest grossing films, and everything in between.  This year saw a few comedy surprises, the highest grossing Steven Spielberg drama in a long time, a couple of superhero megahits, and the glorious disaster that was Oogieloves.  Hit the jump to take a look at 2012’s Box Office in Review.

James Bond will stay fashionable in Tom Ford suits for a long time with Sam Mendes’ Skyfall earning a comfortable $1 billion in the worldwide box office.  Skyfall is only the 14th film of all time to reach the billion-dollar mark, making it the third film to do so in this calendar year, alongside The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises.  In fact, of the 14 films on this list, only two occurred in the 20th century: Titanic and Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace.  2011 also saw three films rake in $1 billion worldwide with franchise installments Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.  With Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland achieving that mark in 2010, eight of the top fourteen earners have all occurred in the last three calendar years.

Hit the jump to see the billionaire’s club of the top 14 films in worldwide box office earnings, now featuring Skyfall.

It looks like Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has outpaced the competition to take the top spot in 2012′s final box office with $32.9 million.  Opening films Django Unchained, Les Miserables and Parental Guidance followed in box office order with Jack Reacher rounding out the top five.

Three additional titles piled into theatres on Christmas Day, capping off the busiest box office week of 2012. As expected, Universal’s Les Miserables was Tuesday’s clear winner, earning an estimated $18.2 million from 2,808 locations. Django Unchained placed second with just over $15 million from 3,010 locations – beating the $14.3 million debut of Inglourious Basterds to become the best opening ever for director Quentin Tarantino. After eleven days on top, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey fell to third place with $11.3 million, though that still placed it well ahead of Christmas Day’s final gift. The Fox comedy Parental Guidance had the widest release of the day (3,358 locations) but still wound up in fourth with an estimated $6.4 million.

After coasting on holdovers for weeks, Hollywood studios have unleashed a feast of new features: just in time for Christmas. Even with all the competition, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had no trouble staying in first place with an estimated $36.7 million. Jack Reacher placed second, but with less than half The Hobbit’s total. And with Les Miserables and Django Unchained on deck for Christmas Day, it looks like more than one new title will have a hard time distinguishing itself from the holiday crowd.

After breaking December’s one-day opening record with $37.5 million this Friday, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has now captured the December weekend record with its estimated $84.7 million debut. That total was spread out among a giant 4,045 locations and multiple platforms (including three different 3D formats), which helped to secure An Unexpected Journey a higher debut than any of director Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings features.

With only days remaining before its much-anticipated return to Middle Earth, the box office was a relatively quiet place. Once again, holdovers ruled and grosses were small. In fact, the only real surprise was which of the week’s seasoned veterans came out on top. That would be Skyfall: the James Bond blockbuster that last held the top spot four weeks ago.

Box office rankings were frozen in time this weekend as the top three films remained unchanged for a third straight frame. Once again, top honors went to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, closely followed by Skyfall.  Spielberg’s Lincoln claimed third. There were also two new releases, though neither hailed from a major studio. The Weinstein Co.’s Killing Them Softly had the most promise, but not even Brad Pitt’s presence could push the drama to $10 million on this notoriously low-grossing weekend.