"Chronicle" works box-office magic

Topics: Movies

Actors, from left, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan, and Dane DeHaan are shown in a scene from "Chronicle."

(Credit: AP Photo/20th Century Fox)

(CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe should have known that kids with super powers rule at the box office.

Having shed his "Harry Potter" sorcery in the ghost story "The Woman in Black," the grown-up child star was edged out of the top spot at the weekend box office by some unknown kids with superpowers.

"Chronicle," with a cast of unknowns as youths who gain telekinetic abilities, debuted as the No. 1 movie with $22 million.

Sunday studio estimates put "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe's ghost story "The Woman in Black" just behind with a $21 million opening.

Both movies packed in solid teen and early-20s crowds, Hollywood's bread-and-butter demographic that had been giving movies a pass during a box-office slump late last year.

Hollywood finished the first month of 2012 with strong revenues that are running well ahead of last year's lackluster receipts.

The previous weekend's top movie, Liam Neeson's "The Grey," slipped to No. 3 with $9.5 million.

Rounding out the top five was Drew Barrymore's "Big Miracle" with $8.5 million in receipts and the Kate Beckinsale horror movie "Underworld: Awakening" with $5.6 million.

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