Box office “Goes With It,” escapes Bieber Fever

This weekend’s expected box-office surge was led by Adam Sandler. The “romantic” comedy “Just Go With It,” despite a lashing from critics, made a respectable $30 million for Happy Madison and just enough to edge Justin Bieber for No. 1.

“Never Say Never,” the 3-D concert documentary about the (pre-)teen phenom, ranked up there with Miley Cyrus’ concert movie in 2009, but Hannah Montana did it on much fewer screens.

1. Just Go With It  – $30.5 M (weekend) … $30.5 M (gross)
2. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never – $29.5 M … $29.5 M
3. Gnomeo & Juliet – $25.3 M … $25.3 M
4. The Eagle – $8.6 M … $8.6 M
5. The Roommate  – $8.1 M … $25.7 M
6. The King’s Speech – $7.2 M … $93.6 M
7. No Strings Attached  – $5.8 M … $60 M
8. Sanctum – $5.6 M … $18 M
9. True Grit – $3.7 M  … $160.3 M
10. The Green Hornet  – $3.6 M … $92.4 M

But the real surprise was “Gnomeo & Juliet” making $25.3 million, a Jan./Feb. animated opening record and the biggest first take by a non-major animated studio without a built-in audience of some kind. Considering “Yogi Bear” marked the last significant (and disappointing) kids entry, it’s not that surprising the film managed to whip up the big attendance numbers.

“The Eagle” completed domination of the weekend by all the new releases. A moderate $8.6 million held off a surprisingly strong second week from “The Roommate.”

“Just Go With It” marks the sixth film in as man weeks to take over the box office, which isn’t completely surprising for January and February. A $30-million take for the top spot this week means the film probably won’t have enough to change the trend, especially with the full President’s Day weekend.

The Oscar films continued to boom, with “The King’s Speech” and “Black Swan” both likely to cross the century mark this week or by the end of next weekend.