'Chronicle' edges Radcliffe's 'Woman in Black'

Teen boys with superpowers helped lift the movie box office to unexpected heights over Super Bowl weekend as thriller Chronicle edged Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffes haunted house movie The Woman in Black.Chronicle brought in an estimated $22.0 million from US and Canadian theaters, studio estimates released on Sunday showed. The movie with largely unknown actors finished just ahead of Radcliffes Woman in Black, which took in an estimated $21.0 million.Both performances surpassed projections from studio executives, who had expected weaker sales against competition from Sundays Super Bowl football championship. The tallies include actual ticket receipts for Friday and Saturday plus estimates for Sunday at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters.Chronicle added $13 million from 33 international markets, for a global weekend total of $35 million.The appearance of young moviegoers, who had shunned some recent films targeted to them, boosted the top two films.The teen audience seems to be coming back to movies again. There was serious worry they were fading, said John Davis, who produced Chronicle.The movie tells the story of three teenage boys who develop superpowers and find they have a dark side. People under age 25 made up 61 percent of the movies audience, distributor 20th Century Fox said. Fifty-five percent were males.The studio produced Chronicle for about $12 million and had forecast debut weekend sales below $10 million. Young moviegoers also propelled Woman in Black well past studio expectations of around $10 million. Fifty-seven percent of filmgoers were under age 25, and 59 percent were females.The movie was Radcliffes first since the blockbuster Harry Potter franchise ended last summer. The film attractedRadcliffes young female fans plus an audience that likes to be scared but not grossed out, said Steven Friedlander, executive vice president of theatrical distribution for CBS Films, the unit of CBS Corp that released the movie.