Lone Survivor opens large at U.S. box-office with $38.5 million

Peter Berg's Lone Survivor has won over millions of American hearts in its debut weekend as it grossed a massive $38.5 million in North America itself. The amount is undoubtedly much more than expected and the movie is one of the best war films post 9/11.

The feature, themed on patriotism, received a highly desired A+ CinemaScore. Lone Survivor, which stars Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster in lead roles, is adapted from Marcus Luttrell's memoir which narrated the story of four Navy SEALs who were deployed on a perilous mission to Afghanistan. Universal’s domestic marketing chief Nikki Rocco said, "It's a great story about patriotism, survival and heroism, and incredible courage. It worked well everywhere, but Middle America really, really responded. The publicity and marketing effort was amazing, including supporting Marcus in reaching out everywhere to tell his story. Pete and Mark were everywhere, too.”

Disney’s one of the best animations ever, Frozen, came down to No. 2 with $15 million which pushed its domestic earnings to $317 million. Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street has remained in a satisfactory position in its third week at the No. 3 position grossing $9 million for a domestic total of $78.6 million. Millennium Films' new entry The Legend of Hercules and American Hustle shared the No. 4 spot. The other feature films which remained at respectable positions on the box-office chart are John Wells' August: Osage County, Spike Jonze's Her, Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks, Joel and Ethan Coen's Inside Llewyn Davis and Alexander Payne's Nebraska. Among others the weekend was not an out-and-out washout for even Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug which has crossed $800 million worldwide.