A movie with some of the smallest media buzz I have seen in some time managed to take the crown at the box office this weekend.

Chronicle, the latest in the “found footage” genre, ended up winning out the weekend with $22 million at the box office. With a smallish budget of $12 million, and probably the least amount of advertising I’ve seen in some time for a film, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this film is already in the black.  While I’ve gotten fairly annoyed with the found footage film style, this one at least breathed some new life into the idea by being about kids who get super powers instead of your usual attempt at horror.

Coming in second with $21 million was the new Daniel Radcliffe horror film, The Woman in Black.  Analysts were predicting some healthy numbers for this film, so coming in second is sure to have surprised at least a few people, especially when it was beaten by a fairly unknown film.

Dropping 51.7 percent from last weekend to come in third was the Liam Nesson vehicle, The Grey.  The film brought in $9.5 million to bring its domestic total to $34.7 million.

Big Miracle, a new family-friendly film about whales, came in with $8.5 million, which is pretty anemic considering its $40 million budget.  Family films tend to hold on better at the box office than most other properties, so we’ll have to see how this one fares over the long term.

Rounding out the top five was Underworld Awakening, slipping another 54.7 percent, but it still brought in a pretty healthy $5.6 million.  This franchise just does not want to seem to die off, which, I must admit, does surprise me a bit.

There’s four decent sized releases next week, so get ready for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Safe House, The Vow and, sadly, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (in 3D).

It seems that moviegoers were very much in the mood for some fresh films this weekend.

The new Liam Neeson film that shows him fighting wolves in the wilderness, The Grey,  brought in an estimated $20 million this weekend.  It’s behind some other recent films from the actor, but not a horrible showing.

Underworld Awakening slipped 50.6 percent this weekend to bring in an estimated $12.5 million.  It’s currently tracking slightly ahead of the second film in the series, the last to feature Kate Beckinsale, so depending on final numbers I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a fifth film to show up at some point.

The new Katherine Heigl film, One For the Money, was estimated to bring in only $5 million this weekend by some analysts, but the current estimates put it at $11.75 million. Based on a popular series of crime novels by Janet Evanovich, it’s a bit surprising it wasn’t expected to do better, but lets see how it does with a couple more weeks under its belt, but it’s getting marginal reviews.

Red Tails fell 44.6 percent, which is a healthy hold on its box office take, and slightly ahead of the normal decline films see in their second weekends.  It added $10.4 million to its take, bringing its total to $33.78 million.

Opening in fifth place was Man on a Ledge came in with $8.3 million, so it seems unlikely this movie will be around for very long.

Next week will see the releases of Big Miracle, Chronicle and The Woman in Black.

It seems there is still some life in the Underworld series as the fourth film took the number one spot at the box office this weekend.

Underworld Awakening brought in $25.4 million this weekend to win the top spot.  The last installment of the series to star Kate Beckinsale was Underworld: Evolution which opened to $26.9 million, and when you factor in the higher average ticket price of today, and adding in the higher price for 3D tickets, attendance was down significantly from that 2006 film.  We’ll have to see how it performs in the coming weeks.

Second place went to the new George Lucas-produced film, Red Tails.  The latest film to take on the story of the Tuskegee Airmen brought in a respectable $19.1 million.  I’m honestly not sure how it will end up doing, but seeing as it cost $58 million to make it should end up recouping Lucas his investment.

Contraband fell 49.9% from last weekend to bring in $12.2 million. While not a huge dollar amount, it’s actually doing well for a Mark Whalberg movie … which actually isn’t saying a whole lot.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close went in to wide release this weekend, increasing from 6 screens to 2,630, meaning it saw a financial take increase of +11,484.2%.  This translated to $10.54 million, but it’s just really fun to write it out as a percentage

Rounding out the top five was Haywire with a $9 million opening weekend.  Considering the extremely poor reviews, it’s unlikely that this female action thriller is going to have a whole lot of life to it.

Next week sees the debuts of The Grey, bank heist thriller Man on a Ledge and One For the Money.

The weekend box office results got hijacked this weekend by a new comer, but the numbers weren’t exactly huge.

Mark Whalberg was back with his film Contraband as both the lead and producer.  The heist film brought in $24.1 million, ranking seventh in the Whalberg filmography … perhaps it’s time that he should reunite the Funky Bunch?

Beauty and the Beast, one of the biggest hits ever for Disney, has been rereleased after the success of The Lion King 3D.  This weekend saw the film bring in $18.4 million, so it isn’t hard to predict we’ll see more of these films coming back in 3D releases.  We’ll know they’re abusing this concept when they get back to Pete’s Dragon.

Mission:Impossible – Ghost Protocol is (mysteriously) still pulling them in with another $11.5 million.  The worldwide gross now stands at $506.7 million, so I’m guessing we can expect a fifth film in this series at some point.

The new Dolly Parton/Queen Latifah film, Joyful Noise had a weak opening with $11.3, but considering I’ve seen next to no advertising on this film, I can’t say I’m surprised.

Round out the top five was Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which, despite a weak initial opening, has held on stronger than most people suspected it might and has brought in another $8.4 million. It now stands at just over $170 million domestic, so it is actually turning in to a decent performing film.

Of interesting note is the sixth place finisher, The Devil Inside. Having been the top film last week, this film has a new credit it to its name with one of the largest percentage drops ever for a film, falling 76.6 percent week over week. Considering the reviews I’ve heard, I can’t say I’m surprised.

next weeks releases include Haywire, Red Tails, Underworld Awakening and a wide release for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.