Box Office Mojo has the weekend’s numbers for us, and as I expected “The Grey” led the pack. The Liam Neeson starrer scored $19.7 million this weekend, and became Open Road Films’ first number one debut (and the movie was fantastic). “Underworld: Awakening” fell down to second place with $12.35 million, and a $45 million domestic take so far; this is a franchise best. Third place went to the over-performing “One for the Money” with $11.5 million. The awful looking movie must have attracted many couples (and by that I mean men were dragged by their significant other) in order to reach numbers like this. In fourth was “Red Tails,” the “historically accurate” film about the Tuskegee Airmen, and it has earned an unimpressive $33.75 million in 10 days. The film cost executive producer George Lucas more than $100 million, and isn’t expected to hit any high numbers overseas. “Man on a Ledge” unjustly debuted in fifth place with a disappointing $8 million. The film earned a B+ Cinema Score so hopefully word of mouth can help it earn a little bit more dough before it is pushed on Blu-Ray.

The 2012 Screen Actors Guild Awards were this past weekend, and “The Help” took out the trash. The film won three of the biggest awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Octavia Spencer), and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Viola Davis). The wins were deserved, and it’s nice to see hard work finally get recognized. Christopher Plummer (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) took home the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in “Beginners.” He really brought a lot of heart and joy to a role that if played by any other older actor might have just came off as sad. Of course, Jean Dujardin won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Lead Role for his work in “The Artist,” and there is no one who deserved it more. He took what could have been just a throwback film and carried it to the top of the list of every award show. Surprisingly “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” even got some love for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture; undoubtedly it was for the amazing finale that had people gripping the edge of their seats. Better luck next year to Ryan Gosling, who proved that just because you star in a successful (if not overrated) indie film (“Drive”) it doesn’t entitle you to anything.

There is good news for comic book geeks (like me)! Matthew Vaughn (“Layer Cake”) has signed on to direct a sequel to his film “X-Men: First Class.” Deadline has learned that, unfortunately, Simon Kinberg (“X-Men: The Last Stand”) has been hired to write the script, but at least Bryan Singer (“X2: X-Men United”) will be back as producer. I am eagerly anticipating long time Vaughn collaborator Jane Goldman to be hired at a later date to re-work whatever god-awful script Kinberg comes up with. Back in May of 2011 Vaughn mentioned that the second movie would likely open with the JFK assassination, and Magneto controlling the magic bullet. How cool would that be!? I love what they are doing with the series (much like “Watchmen” did) where they are re-writing American history to include the Mutants. As a fan of his work this is amazing news for me, but it also means Vaughn will be a while longer before getting to the highly anticipated “Kick-Ass” sequel. One can only hope that he finds time to accomplish both projects within the next couple of years.

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