Bruce Willis and A Good Day to Die Hard succumbed to the power of love on Valentine’s Day as the cinematic adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel Safe Haven edged it at the box office.
Opening at 3,223 locations, Relativity’s love story Safe Haven starring Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel fittingly won Valentine’s Day at the box office with $8.8 million in business on its opening day. Despite the early win, Safe Haven will have a tough time beating the next two films through the five-day holiday weekend from Valentine’s Day through President’s Day on Monday.
Taking second place and widely expected to easily win the holiday frame with over $50 million in business is the fifth Die Hard film starring Bruce Willis, A Good Day to Die Hard. The film was railed by critics with an anemic 17% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, yet managed $8.2 million in its debut. Look for A Good Day to Die Hard to take the weekend lead after Friday and extend that lead through Monday.
Landing in third and likely on track to finish second through Monday is Universal’s comedy hit Identity Thief. With another $5.3 million in ticket sales Thursday, the funny flick stands at $47.3 million overall and will continue what looks like an inevitable march toward $100 million before heading to home video.
We will keep updating the box office numbers to see how well A Good Day to Die Hard holds up throughout the weekend with Friday’s studio estimates being reported Saturday afternoon.
Read our A Good Day to Die Hard review.
