In a box office battle not quite for the ages, the sci-fi popcorn-muncher Chronicle pushed past Daniel Radcliffe's horrifish The Woman in Black by the slim margin of $22 million to $21 million—a veritable pop-culture squeaker, according to the estimates.

Granted, the overall numbers weren't huge. It is February after all, when multiplexes often slip into a period of semi-hibernation. Chronicle isn't setting itself up as the next Transformers franchise (though, in my opinion, one Transformers franchise is more than enough).

But considering the found-footage flick was not just battling the boy who lived but the boys who played football, Chronicle impressed almost everyone. Made for an estimated $12-15 million, the movie outperformed expectations and led the overall box office to a 37% improvement over the same time last year.

It's kinda sorta appropriate, then, that on a weekend when the film industry found itself back in the black, The Woman in Black would've finished as a strong second-place contender. Black also outperformed expectations, and it and Chronicle became the first one-two combo to each crest the $20 million mark on a Super Bowl weekend in … well, the history of the Super Bowl.

The weekend's third newcomer, Big Miracle, could've used one. The movie, despite the presence of Drew Barrymore and a trio of lovable whales, couldn't push past the growling, snapping pack of The Grey, which must've left the folks at Universal blubbering. The Grey wound up with $9.5 million for third place, while Miracle had to make due with $8.5 million and fourth.

Underworld: Awakening led the rest of the also-rans, earning $5.6 million for fifth place.