Warm Bodies Is A Super Bowl Weekend Standout With $8 Million Friday Opening

It seems zombies aren't just in vogue when they're staggering around and threatening people on The Walking Dead. The quirky romantic comedy Warm Bodies, about a zombie who falls for one of the earth's few surviving humans, led the U.S. box office on Friday, making $8.1 million on its way toward an estimated $20 million for the weekend. It was way, way ahead of second-place finisher Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, last weekend's #1 film which made $2.9 million Friday.

But the worst news of all was for Bullet to the Head, the Sylvester Stallone vehicle that made just $1.7 million Friday, on its way to a weak $5 million weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter it got just a B- CinemaScore, and given that it's the kind of movie that crams in the blood and bullets to try to keep audiences happy, that can't be a good thing. It would be the lowest opening for Stallone since 2004's Shade-- whatever that is-- and a serious comedown for the actor who's front lined the hit Expendables series in recent years.

Super Bowl weekend is typically pretty rough for Hollywood, but last year it was a surprising success, with both Chronicle and The Woman in Black opening over $20 million. This weekend only Warm Bodies will pull that off, but that's still a pretty major accomplishment for director Jonathan Levine, whose last film 50/50 opened to just $8 million despite being wonderful. Zombies sell-- but it probably doesn't hurt that Warm Bodies has fantastic reviews as well.

We'll have a full box office report to you tomorrow before the big game. In the meantime let us know what you're seeing this weekend in the comments!