Weekend Wrap-Up
Minions Rout Ranger at the Box Office
By John Hamann
July 7, 2013
Things don’t improve much for White House Down following its slow opening frame, when the $150 million Roland Emmerich release earned less than $25 million. This weekend, the Channing Tatum/Jamie Foxx thriller earned $13.5 million, good for a troubling 46% drop. It now has no chance of getting to $100 million, and one has to wonder how a film like this is going to play overseas. Domestically, it has a running total of $50.5 million, and will give Sony more headaches to go with After Earth.
Man of Steel is seventh for the weekend, as it pulls in another $11.4 million. I find it had to believe that this Man of Steel opened to $128.7 million only four weekends ago, and is now struggling to stay in the double digits. Supes had another big decline of 45% to go with its 65% second weekend drop, and 50% last weekend. Also, despite the humongous opening, it is starting to look like the Man of Steel won’t earn $300 million domestically. All flash and no substance equal poor legs (The Lone Ranger had neither). So far, The Man of Steel sits with $271.2 million from domestic venues and an almost equal amount from overseas theaters.
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain, a small concert film from Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment that cost only $750,000 to make, takes eighth place. It made more than six times its budget amount on opening day, by earning $4.8 million Wednesday alone. It had earned 10 times its budget by end of day Thursday ($2.6 million gross), and 15 times its budget by the end of Friday. Over the weekend proper, Let Me Explain earned $10.1 million, and over five days, it earned $17.5 million. That’s 23 times the production budget after only five days of release. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain is the perfect low risk, big reward situation that Universal also used for The Purge. It is counter-programming at its finest.
Ninth is This Is the End, Seth Rogen’s end of the world comedy. This Is the End earned another $5.8 million, falling 33% compared to last weekend. The $32 million film has been wildly successful, as it has a gross so far of $85.6 million.
In tenth is Now You See Me, the magic heist film that recently made it past the $100 million mark. The Lionsgate film earned another $2.8 million this weekend, down 51% from the previous film. The unexpected hit now has a domestic total of $110.4 million.
Steve Carell not only dominates the mainstream releases this weekend, he’s also dominating in limited release as well. The Way, Way Back debuted at 19 theatres this weekend, and pulled in an impressive $575,000. That gives the comedy an impressive venue average of $30,263, and a solid start to what should be a strong run.
Overall this weekend, the box office is extremely strong again despite The Lone Ranger result. The top 12 films earned $220.6 million this weekend, well ahead of last year when The Amazing Spider-Man led the box office with $62 million. Next weekend brings another showdown, this time between mega monsters in Pacific Rim and bad acting in Grown Ups 2.
| 1 |
Despicable Me 2 |
UNIVERSAL |
$82,518,065 |
New |
$142,075,710 |
| 2 |
The Lone Ranger |
|
$29,432,000 |
New |
$48,936,000 |
| 3 |
The Heat |
Fox |
$25,000,000 |
- 36% |
$86,398,000 |
| 4 |
Monsters University |
Walt Disney Pictures |
$19,570,000 |
- 57% |
$216,127,000 |
| 5 |
World War Z |
Paramount |
$18,200,000 |
- 39% |
$158,758,000 |
| 6 |
White House Down |
SONY |
$13,500,000 |
- 46% |
$50,478,000 |
| 7 |
Man of Steel |
Warner Bros. |
$11,415,000 |
- 45% |
$271,206,000 |
| 8 |
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain |
Lionsgate |
$10,100,000 |
New |
$17,460,704 |
| 9 |
This Is the End |
SONY |
$5,800,000 |
- 33% |
$85,554,000 |
| 10 |
Now You See Me |
Lionsgate |
$2,770,000 |
- 51% |
$110,415,412 |
| 11 |
Star Trek: Into Darkness |
PARAMOUNT |
$1,310,000 |
- 38% |
$223,065,000 |
| 12 |
Fast & Furious 6 |
UNIVERSAL |
$1,024,220 |
- 58% |
$235,439,330 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
| |
The Way, Way Back |
FOX SEARCHLIGHT |
$575,000 |
New |
$575,000 |
| |
Stuck In Love |
Millennium |
$38,135 |
New |
$38,135 |
| |
I'm So Excited |
Sony Classics |
$149,246 |
+ 53% |
$311,721 |
| |
Museum Hours |
Cinema Guild |
$32,328 |
+ 10% |
$84,771 |
| |
Unfinished Song |
Weinstein Co. |
$248,000 |
+ 169% |
$443,220 |
| |
The Attack |
Cohen Media |
$204,779 |
+ 50% |
$482,398 |
| |
20 Feet From Stardom |
Radius/twc |
$510,133 |
+ 120% |
$1,100,512 |
| |
Before Midnight |
Sony Classics |
$513,141 |
- 19% |
$6,611,165 |
| |
Iron Man 3 |
|
$503,000 |
- 63% |
$406,433,000 |
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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