The box office report for February 18-20

Courtesy of Box Office Guru, we see two Best Picture nominees join the $100 million club:

This weekend Liam Neeson's latest European-set single-word-titled action thriller Unknown debuted at number one over the Friday-to-Sunday portion of the Presidents' Day frame, however the hit 3D toon Gnomeo & Juliet will give the Oscar-nominated star a run for his money over the full four-day holiday session thanks to its terrific staying power. The sci-fi alien flick I Am Number Four debuted in second place while fellow newcomer Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son launched in fifth with each averaging about $6,000. Overall ticket sales fell behind the same holiday frames from the last two years.

Debuting to an estimated $21.8M over three days, Neeson's Unknown took the top spot and averaged a solid $7,154 from 3,043 sites. The PG-13 film about an American in Berlin whose identity has been taken after a car accident leaves him in a coma played to a mature adult crowd and performed much like his 2009 sleeper hit Taken which opened on Super Bowl weekend to $24.7M ahead of a $145M run. With Oscar-nominated dramas being the only other films playing to the over-30 set in recent weeks, Unknown arrived as an exciting-looking alternative with a well-liked star.

Reviews were mixed but on the same level as those for Taken. However, since kid movies do better than adult pics on Presidents' Day Monday, Gnomeo stands a chance of matching Unknown over the Friday-to-Monday period so the four-day race was too close to call.

The sci-fi actioner I Am Number Four, Disney's first release of a DreamWorks production, opened in second place with an estimated $19.5M playing to teens and young adults. Averaging a decent $6,183 from 3,154 locations, the PG-13 adaptation of the popular novel featured no major stars and relied on fans of the book and on teens interested in a high school tale. Reviews were not too kind.

Holding steady at number three was the animated hit Gnomeo & Juliet which dipped only 24% to an estimated $19.4M over three days. But the big story of the weekend was that the 3D toon could overtake Unknown for the number one spot when ranking the four-day long holiday frame. With strong word-of-mouth, more kids available because of the school holiday, and no competition from any other kidpics, Gnomeo held up incredibly well pushing its ten-day total to $50.4M and now seems likely to break the $100M mark.

Dropping 40% in its second weekend was the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston comedy Just Go With It which grossed an estimated $18.2M. Sony's latest pic from the bankable funnyman upped its sum to $60.8M in ten days and has a good shot of hitting $100M. That would allow Sandler to claim nine-digit hits in nine of the last ten years.

Martin Lawrence's return to the fat suit brought him a fifth place debut for the Fox comedy sequel Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son which grossed an estimated $17M. Averaging $6,026 from 2,821 locations, the PG-13 film fell well short of the $25.7M opening of Big Momma's House from June 2000 as well as the $27.7M of its followup in January 2006. The new Momma, which features second-generation cross-dressing, was not screened for critics by their deadlines, but once reviews started appearing they were among the worst for any film in months. Fox estimated that the four-day holiday weekend will reach $20M.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never fell 54% in its sophomore frame which was not too bad given that it is a 3D concert biopic meant to draw hysterical fans upfront. Paramount kept the publicity attacks going past the opening weekend allowing the ten-day total to climb to $48.5M. Produced for just $13M, the G-rated pic looks set to finish its run with $70M or so.

Oscar favorite The King's Speech crossed the $100M mark this weekend and enjoyed another remarkable hold dipping only 9% to an estimated $6.6M. That pushed the cume for The Weinstein Co. to a stellar $103.3M with $125M or more possible by the end of the run. Sony's college thriller The Roommate followed with an estimated $4.1M, down 50%, for a $32.7M total.

Audiences fled from Channing Tatum as his historical action epic The Eagle tumbled a disturbing 59% to an estimated $3.6M for a weak ten-day tally of $15M for Focus. Natalie Portman rounded out the top ten with her comedy No Strings Attached which took in an estimated $3.1M, down 46%, for $66M to date. Her Oscar contender Black Swan broke the $100M barrier right before the start of the weekend.

The top ten films over three days grossed an estimated $126.8M which was down 31% from last year's Presidents' Day frame when Valentine's Day opened in the top spot with $56.3M; and down 17% from 2009's holiday when Friday the 13th debuted at number one with $40.6M.

-Joey's Two Cents: Congrats to Black Swan and The King's Speech...thoughts?