The box office was dominated by new releases this weekend, indicating that the public was ready for some fresh blood.

Taking the top spot this weekend was the female-friendly The Vow taked in a very healthy $41.7 million over the three days.  The movie deals with a wife slipping into coma after a car accident and not remembering loving her husband when she wakes up.  Perfect fare fot eh weekend before Valentine’s Day.

Safe House opened with $39.3 million which is down from other recent Denzel Washington films such as American Gangster.  Perhaps everyone is finally realizing he plays the same character in every film?

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, which isn’t overly clear that it’s a sequel to the 2008 version of Journey to the Center of the Earth, came in third with $27.5 million.  This is actually ahead of the original by nearly $6.5 million, which considering how it seemed to come out of nowhere is rather interesting.

The 3D re-release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace came in fourth with $23 million.  This comes in behind the other recent 3D re-releases of The Lion King and Beauty & the Beast, but considering the cost of converting the film to 3D, the rest of the series is sure to follow in short order.

Chronicle came in as the only hold over new release from last week, falling 44.1% to bring in $12.3 million.  Seeing as it cost $12 million to make and has surpassed $40.1 million domestic, and $12.8 foreign, the film is doing fairly well.

The new releases for next week are Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, The Secret World of Arrietty and This Means War. Of these, I’m most excited for Arrietty as it’s from the infamous Studio Ghibli in Japan and is sure to be an amazing piece of work, though it’s doubtful it will do well in the States.