Everybody likes Legos. Young and old, I think pretty much everybody agrees that Legos are fun. And, boy, has the Lego brand name ever extended way beyond its humble beginnings. It’s now a massive franchise, with, of course, the classic blocks themselves as well as successful video games and now the potential start of a very lucrative film franchise. The Lego Movie is our number one film this weekend in an absolute landslide.

The Lego Movie

Debuting to the second highest opening weekend ever for the month of February (behind just the $83 million opening of The Passion of the Christ), The Lego Movie made a stunning $69.1 million. That blows away my predictions, which had it pegged in the $50 million range. The recognizable brand name, glowing reviews and broad appeal across multiple age groups all combined to make The Lego Movie a massive success. With the word of mouth it’s generating, I’d say $200 million is a lock, $250 million is a strong possibility and even $300 million isn’t unthinkable, especially considering this should hold very well next over the long President’s Day weekend. It should be fun to watch how high The Lego Movie can build itself up in the ensuing months.

Debuting to a solid $22.7 million, The Monuments Men was able to overcome tepid reviews to post a solid gross. Worth of mouth seems divided so far, which makes me feel iffy about its potential legs. Nonetheless, it’s probably looking at a total of at least $60 million. Holding very well, Ride Along slipped just 22% to $9.4 million. That brings its strong total to $105.2 million.

Even in the face of potent, direct competition from The Lego Movie, Frozen would not be denied making its own headlines this week. A 23% dip gave it $6.9 million for the weekend, which was enough to lift it past Despicable Me 2 for the title of biggest animated film of 2013, as well as into the bronze medal spot for the year as a whole with a $368.7 million total. If it could weather the storm of The Lego Movie this well, it’ll be fine in the weeks ahead, especially as it should hold very well next weekend. A total around $390 million seems likely.

In fifth, That Awkward Moment fell a decent 37% to $5.5 million. It has just $16.9 million, but at least the budget was only $8 million. Lone Survivor was next, falling 25% to $5.3 million, giving it a sum of $112.6 million. Debuting way down in seventh, Vampire Academy flopped horribly with a miserable $4.1 million opening. It was followed by The Nut Job, which is somehow apparently getting a sequel. Anyway, the kiddie film fell 48% to $3.8 million and has grossed $55.1 million to date.

Jack Ryan fell 32% to $3.6 million and brought its weak total to $44.5 million. Finally, in tenth, Labor Day dropped 38% to $3.2 million. Just $10.2 million in total for this picture. Well, there you have it. A huge debut by The Lego Movie that just left towered over everything else. TLM should easily retain the top spot next weekend as it faces competition from About Last Night, Endless Love, Winter’s Tale and RoboCop over the long President’s Day/Valentine’s weekend. Should be interesting. Until we meet again.