Weekend Box Office Jan. 17-19: 'Ride Along' Cruises to January Record

Going into last weekend, it wasn't at all clear whether audiences would want to Ride Along with Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, but when all was said and done, the duo's buddy comedy won over large crowds and set a new January box-office record.

"Ride Along" earned $41.2 million over its opening weekend, a figure that squeaked past the record for a January opening previously held by "Cloverfield." More significantly, "Ride Along" scored a solid A CinemaScore, proving that movie-goers and critics rarely agree about a film's quality and suggesting that "Ride Along" might continue to draw audiences after its opening weekend.

The news was mixed for other new movies over the weekend. Animated squirrel comedy "The Nut Job" performed admirably, taking in $20.6 million, again despite critics' pre-release negativity. However, "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" took in a soft $17.2 million. These two new movies placed third and fourth for the weekend, behind last week's winner, "Lone Survivor."

"Devil's Due," the found-footage demon flick, was the latest horror movie bomb, following in the footsteps of "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones." "Devil's Due" grossed $8.5 million over the weekend; "Marked Ones" took in more than twice that much two weeks earlier and was still considered a big disappointment.

Among recent Oscar nominees, "August: Osage County" and "American Hustle" saw a box-office bump from their nominations. "Her," however, saw a 24% drop from its already disappointing gross last week; apparently audiences don't care that the Academy thinks it's one of the best movies of 2013.