An action drama which stars a group of active-duty U.S. Navy SEALs opened with better-than- expected performance, winning the box office derby over the Academy Awards weekend.

"Act of Valor," a Relativity Media production, is projected to gross 24.7 million U.S. dollars during the Friday-Sunday period, after it hit the screen at 3,039 venues in the U.S. and Canada on Friday. The film, originally a Bandito Brothers project, was bought by Relativity for 13.5 million dollars for the rights to the action film. The independent filmmaker also spent tens of millions of dollars on an extensive marketing stint including placing ads on ESPN and Super Bowl matches.

Touted as an unprecedented blend of real-life heroism and original filmmaking, "Act of Valor," which costs between 15 and 18 million dollars to make, deals with a Navy SEAL squad which goes on a covert operation to rescue a kidnapped CIA agent. Seventy-one percent of the audiences who have seen the film was male and 60 percent was over 25 years of age. Moviegoers gave it an average grade of "A."

"Tyler Perry's Good Deeds," writer/director Tyler Perry's latest film and one of the four films which debuted in North America this weekend, opened in a distant second place with a 16 million dollar anticipated gate. Like other Tyler Perry's films before, this Lionsgate-distributed romantic drama appeals to mostly African Americans and female moviegoers. Of those who have seen it, 76 percent was female and 85 percent was over 25 years old. The fans who have watched it liked it, giving it an A CinemaScore.

Rounding out the top 10 most popular films in North America this weekend are "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" (13.5 million dollars), "Safe House" (11.4 million dollars), "The Vow" (10 million dollars), "Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance" (8.8 million dollars), "This Means War" (8.5 million dollars), "Wanderlust" ( premiering in limited release with 6.6 million dollars), "Gone" ( debuting with 5 million dollars) and "The Secret World of Arrietty " (4.5 million dollars).