The weekend haul of "Lone Surivor," based on real life events by Navy SEALs in Afghanistan, was the second largest January debut of any movie ever at $38,511,000 (without considering inflation), leading to the following trivia question: which movie had the largest? Incredibly, the answer is 2008's "Cloverfield," or the film made to appear as if it was entirely shot with a handheld video camera (still accurate enough to catch clips of the giant lizard terrorizing Manhattan).

Number four on that list was "The Devil Inside," a documentary-style horror film over 50 million people maybe wish they never heard of. It's important to keep in mind, however, that January - perhaps in response to the flick-packed period of late December - is the weakest month for movies in terms of big money makers. Cloverfield, for example made $40 million in 2008, while five other months had movies netting over $100 million, including May's 2012 "Marvel's Avengers" breaking the $200 million mark, according to Box Office Mojo.

"Lone Survivor's" success was spurred by a bestselling book of the same name, countless interviews and publicity events by the book's author (and the actual lone survivor), Marcus Lattrell, and strong reviews (73 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 7.8/10 on imdb). Of the film starring Mark Wahlberg, Eric Bana, and Emile Hirsch, the Boston Globe was a little more ambivalent than the overall reviews. In particular, the author felt the movie didn't quite address the complexities and the background of the mission, which was to assassinate militant leader and Taliban conspirator, Ahmed Shaw. Also questioned was the film's rather black-and-white version of events bordering on "propaganda", according to the Boston Globe. On a more positive note, the action sequences and the acting were highly praised.

Though it likely won't win any major awards, "Lone Survivor" should get some Oscar nominations, according to Variety.

Also opening this weekend was "Legend of Hercules." It didn't fare nearly as well, earning just under $8 million - less than "Wolf of Wall Street" in its third weekend, according to the Los Angeles Times.