Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. While that dream was about freedom, I doubt he ever imagined we would have a day of freedom because of him. Well, freedom from work on that day, anyway. Monday was a holiday for many, and many went to the theater.
Box office sales weren't huge, but they were better than your usual Monday. As a three day weekend holiday goes, it's not the kind of bonus for studios as, say, Labor Day or Memorial Day.
The numbers jostled who got what place in the lower part of the top ten, but the top four stood solid, including Cloverfield, which broke the record for the largest January opening ever. By default, that gave it the largest MLK Day opening ever as well.