NEW YORK —On Oscar weekend, the real-life action stars of “Act of Valor” bested Hollywood’s pretend heroes.
The Relativity Media action flick, starring real, active-duty U.S. Navy SEALs, topped the weekend box office, earning $24.7 million according to studio estimates Sunday. That was a strong opening for a film made in collaboration with the Navy, which sought to demonstrate the skill and bravery of the SEALs without Hollywood imitation.
Lionsgate’s “Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds” opened with a healthy $16 million. Its audience was resoundingly female (76 percent) and may have been slightly diminished by the appeal of Denzel Washington in the thriller “Safe House.” That earned $11.4 million, bringing its cumulative total to $98.1 million. The weekend’s other new releases — the thriller “Gone” and the comedy “Wanderlust” — had weaker debuts. The latter earned $6.6 million, and “Gone” took in $5 million. The Associated Press
