Jessica Chastain Movies Rule the Roost

'Mama,' 'Zero Dark Thirty' Take Top Spots

By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 20, 2013 1:36 PM CST

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Jessica Chastain Movies Rule the Roost — Jessica Chastain plays a member of the elite team of spies and military operatives stationed in a covert base overseas in Columbia Pictures' thriller, "Zero Dark Thirty." (AP Photo/Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Jonathan Olley)

Girl power: Jessica Chastain beat out Hollywood tough guys like Mark Wahlberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger to rule the holiday-weekend box office, says the Hollywood Reporter. Her new PG-13 horror film Mama ($28.1 million) debuted at No.1, knocking her Zero Dark Thirty ($17.6 million) to second spot. The relative losers were Wahlberg's action flick Broken City ($9 million) and Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand ($6.3 million). Silver Linings Playbook ($11.4 million) continued to ride its best-picture Oscar nomination while Gangster Squad ($9.1 million) limped along on bad reviews. (Read more Jessica Chastain stories.)