Kate Beckinsale's 'Underworld' Rises To Top Of The Box Office

By Bill Wine

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A new leader emerged at multiplexes over the weekend.

It was vampires versus werewolves versus everyone else. The debuting Underworld: Awakening, the fourth entry in the series of supernatural thrillers starring Kate Beckinsale, awakened the sleepy January box office to the tune of a healthy, unexpected, and estimated $25-million for a first-place finish.

Second place went to Red Tails, the debuting drama about the Tuskegee Airmen, with Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. It earned a respectable $19-million. Last weekend's box-office leader, Contraband, dropped to third with a total of $12-million.

Rounding out the top five were the 9/11-themed drama, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, with $11-million, and the weekend's other new title, Haywire, the action thriller, which opened with a modest tally of $9-million.

Overall, industry-wide totals were well ahead of those on the counterpart weekend last year.