"Underworld: Awakening" and "Red Tails" opened to better-than-expected numbers at the domestic box office this weekend, taking $25.4 million and $19.1, respectively.
"Underworld's" number was strong enough that Sony's distribution chief, Rory Bruer, told TheWrap Sunday morning that he "would be surprised if there wasn't" a fifth "Underworld" movie."
Also of note: Summit's "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1" crossed the $700 million mark at the worldwide box office this weekend. It has taken $701.3 million since its Nov. 18, 2011 release and is on track to become the highest-grossing film of the "Twilight" franchise.
The weekend's strong figures came despite snow storms in the east and midwest, and marked yet another good weekend for the box office, which is up about 32 percent compared to the same weekend in 2011.
Among specialty releases, meanwhile, Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants" -- possibly gaining a bump from its Golden Globe for best drama -- took $2.4 million in 560 locations. That number pushed it past the $50 million mark. The Weinstein Company's "The Iron Lady," which won Meryl Streep a best actress for Golden Globe, remained No. 10 for the second week in a row.
Between Screen Gems' "Underworld: Awakening," the fourth installment in the studio's vampire-and-werewolf franchise, and Universal's "Contraband," Kate Beckinsale starred in the No. 1 and No. 3 movies in North America.
Also read: LucasFilm's 'Red Tails': Seven Minutes of Footage Explodes Online (Video)
"Contraband," which was No. 1 last week, continued drawing audiences, and grossed $12.2 million in its second weekend.
Sony, which owns Screen Gems, attributed the success of "Underworld: Awakening" to several factors, including the return of Beckinsale to the role of Selene, the vampire warrior she originated.
The studio also noted that "Underworld Awakening" is the first of the "Underworld" franchise shown in 3D and IMAX. Sony noted that 3D made up 59 percent of opening weekend receipts, and IMAX made up another 15 percent.
According to IMAX, the movie took $3.8 million on 254 digital IMAX locations.
"This has been a fun ride for us," Bruer told TheWrap.
He said the movie, which received a score of "A-" from the audience survey firm Cinemascore, skewed slightly male: 55 percent of the audience was male and 60 percent was 25 and older.
The studio had expected "Underworld Awakening," which cost about $70 million to make, would gross between $20 million and $22 million over the weekend.
"But we hit the high end and there were weather factors," Bruer said. "That really bodes well for how the film will continue to perform."
Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein directed.
Overseas, "Underworld: Awakening" grossed $13.4 million, making it No. 1 in a dozen of the 20 international markets where it debuted.
Fox, too, was upbeat.
Studio executives had projected that the PG-13 "Red Tails," about the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, would gross $10 million to $12 million, although less conservative outside box-office watchers estimated it would take as much as $18 million.
