Weekend Box Office: 'Underworld Awakening' Slays, 'Breaking Dawn' Passes $700 Million

The new year continues to be a good one for the movie industry, as  a couple of new openers performed well despite poor reviews.

"Underworld Awakening" took the top spot this weekend with a haul of $25.4 million despite earning only a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. That still falls short of the opening for "Underworld: Evolution, the second movie in the four-movie series, which earned $26.9 million. "Awakening" still beat the first and third movies in the franchise, though, and was helped by 3D ticket prices.

"Red Tails" came in second with an impressive $19.1 million for the weekend. The movie centers on the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, and over-performed considerably despite a middling advertising campaign. George Lucas spoke out against studios concerning the film, claiming that he had to fund the movie himself because studios didn't think they could market a film with an all-black cast. Looks like Lucas gets the last laugh here.

Mark Wahlberg's "Contraband" took third place with another $12.2 million, bringing the domestic cume for the movie to $46.2 million. Wahlberg got in some trouble over insensitive comments about 9/11, but that didn't seem to hurt the movie at all.

Speaking of 9/11, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" opened nationwide after four weeks of very limited release. The divisive film, which some critics loved but was denounced by others as oversentimentalizing the tragedy, earned a solid $10.2 million in addition to the $1M or so it earned from its run in just six theaters since before Christmas.

In fifth place was new release "Haywire," which saw good reviews from critics (82%) but very poor reactions from audiences and earned only $9 million. The action film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and is a little more upscale than the usual run-and-gun fare. The cast has some star power in Ewan McGregor, but relies on newcomer and former MMA fighter Gina Carano in the lead.

"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" hit a milestone this week as it passed $700 million worldwide. The movie continues to earn between $500,000 and $1M each week, and could pass the previous franchise record set by "New Moon" at $709.8 million before it ends its run in theaters.

1. "Underworld Awakening" - $25.4 million
2. "Red Tails" - $19.1 million
3. "Contraband" - $12.2 million ($46.2M)
4. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" - $10.2 million
5. "Haywire" -  $9 million