Chronicle edges out Radcliffe's Woman

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some unknown kids with superpowers have nudged out the world’s most famous teen wizard at the weekend box-office.

The 20th Century Fox release Chronicle, featuring a relatively unknown cast as youths who gain telekinetic abilities, debuted as the No. 1 movie with $22M.

Sunday studio estimates put Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe’s ghost story The Woman in Black, released by CBS Films, just behind with a $21M opening.

The results were close enough that the No. 1 and 2 rankings could switch when final numbers are released Monday.

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

Chronicle was “designed and made for a younger demographic. That demographic has been the one that’s been missing from theaters,” said Chris Aronson, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox. “There’s something very unique and very innovative about this movie that they got wind of. There was a lot of pre-release chatter on social media that made a connection with this audience.”

From first-time director Josh Trank, Chronicle relies on documentary-style, hand-held filming techniques to tell the story of three teens (Dane DeHaan, Michael B. Jordan and Alex Russell) who put their newfound superpowers to work in mischievous and eventually dark ways.

Chronicle added $13M overseas for a worldwide total of $35M.

In The Woman in Black, his first starring role since last summer’s Harry Potter finale, Radcliffe plays a widowed lawyer beset by ghostly apparitions at the remote home of a recently deceased client.

While the audience for Chronicle was 55 percent male, the crowds for Woman in Black were 59 percent female, drawn by heartthrob Radcliffe and the lure of an old-fashioned Gothic ghost story.

“In retrospect, you look at Daniel, one of the biggest stars and one of the hardest-working kids in show business, you have a very well-made PG-13 scary movie,” said Steven Friedlander, head of distribution for CBS Films. “The only surprise, really, is why are we surprised? Those are all the elements for making a hit.”