‘Acts of Valor’ leads weekend box office with real-life Navy SEALS just ahead of ‘Good Deeds’

Navy SEALS are propelled in the air from explosion at cartel in the movie 'Acts of Valor,' which led the weekend box office.

A band of real-life Navy SEALS rode patriotic appeal and a well-coordinated marketing attack to storm the top of the box office this weekend.

Relativity’s “Acts of Valor,” which features authentic military personnel in acting roles and authentic ammunition in its action scenes, hauled in $24.7 million in its debut.

“Going into the weekend was a mystery, because it’s not a traditional Hollywood feature, you don’t have a big movie star, you don’t have a lot of special effects, but I think that’s ultimately what was the key of the success,” Kyle Davies, president of worldwide distribution for the studio, told the News.

The studio shelled out for a Super Bowl ad - a huge chunk of change for a movie that has an estimated $12 million budget – a salvo that announced that “Acts of Valor” belonged on the big stage with movies like “G.I. Joe: Retribution.”

“It was a bold move (at the time) because it was a small movie, I think the unique nature of the film was its biggest challenge but also its biggest advantage,” Davies said.

Finishing second was Tyler Perry’s latest family values entry, “Good Deeds,” which notched $16 million its first weekend, at a time when the motion picture industry was busy celebrating more high-brow movies like “The Artist.”

Families also flocked to Warner Brothers’ holdover “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” which finished in third place with $13.5 million.

“On a big awards weekend, when much of Hollywood was making plans to stay at home to watch the Oscars, the rest of the country decided to get out of the house and went to the movies, supporting patriotic and faith-based films,” says Harry Medved, spokesman for the movie ticketing site Fandango.

The news was less positive for the other two new movies at the multiplex.

Universal’s “Wanderlust,” an R-rated comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, netted $6.6 million, to drop into a disappointing 8th place; The title of Summit’s thriller “Gone” may soon be prophetic as it opened one spot lower with just $5 million, according to Hollywood.com.