Weekend Wrap-Up

Gravity Lifts Box Office; Runner Limps

By John Hamann

October 6, 2013

Ms. Bullock has gone to extreme lengths to avoid her psychotic ex, Jesse James.

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Fourth spot goes to Prisoners, which can’t seem to get it back together after a decent opening of $20.8 million. Last weekend, Prisoners dropped 48% to $10.9 million, and this weekend it follows the same trajectory. Prisoners earned only $5.7 million as it falls another 47%. After that great opening, Prisoners is just at the point of making its $46 million production budget back, but will likely only make $10 million more, which means it will have to rely on overseas grosses for Warner Bros. to see any kind of profit. So far, Prisoners has pulled in $47.9 million, as the once bright light has been quickly extinguished.

Fifth goes to Rush, another Oscar worthy film going down in flames at the domestic box office. Rush, Ron Howard’s ode to Formula One racing, went wide last weekend and pulled in an unexciting $10 million (or what Gravity earned by Friday afternoon). This weekend, things got worse as the racing film pulled in only $4.4 million and fell 56%. Rush will now do even worse than Prisoners on the domestic front, because it will not even earn the $38 million it cost to make stateside ($28 million will be a stretch). Where it will do well though is overseas, where it has already earned 30 million. Thus, the worldwide take will keep this one from going up in flames. Give Rush $18.1 million at the domestic box so far.

Sixth is Don Jon, another arty Oscar beggar that is flailing. The Joseph Gordon-Levitt release got off to a decent start last weekend with $8.7 million, but falls 52% this frame to $4.2 million. These films are receiving terrific reviews but they're not holding, and we can’t blame Gravity for everything. Again, production costs were low here at $6 million, but Relativity committed to spending $20 million plus on advertising, and Don Jon has only earned $16.1 million so far.

Seventh is Baggage Claim, another film that got off to decent start last weekend ($9 million in this case) but can’t hold. In its second weekend, the Paula Patton release earned only $4.1 million, which means it dropped 54%. Made for only $8.5 million, this Fox Searchlight release is heading quickly for the exits.




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Eighth is Insidious Chapter 2, the horror flick that won’t be around for Halloween. Insidious Chapter 2 earned $3.9 million in weekend four, good for a drop of 41%. Chapter 2 turned into a big hit for FilmDistrict and Jason Blum, as the on-paper cost was $5 million and the gross so far has reached $74.8 million.

Pantelion Films strikes again as they come up with another top 10 finish. Instructions Not Included may no longer hold a spot, but it's been replaced with Pulling Strings, a bilingual film set in the world of mariachi. Opening in only 387 locations, Pulling Strings earned $2.5 million and comes up with the second best per venue average in the top 10. Lionsgate has made a very smart move creating this niche distribution arm, because it's clear that the Latino audience will support the films being produced here.

Finally, 10th place goes to Enough Said, the Julia Louis-Dreyfuss/James Gandolfini romantic dramedy. Fox Searchlight added another 210 theater this weekend, and the result was a slight increase in box office. The extremely well-reviewed film earned $2.2 million, up 2% compared to last weekend. So far, this small film has earned $5.4 million.

Overall this weekend, Gravity saves the day because without it, theaters would be crying the blues. The top 12 films this weekend pulled in $115 million, well back of last year when Taken 2 earned almost $50 million leading the top ten to $132.7 million. Next weekend will bring the showdown between Captain Phillips and Gravity, as the two Oscar contenders go head to head, along with the debut of Machete Kills.


Top Weekend Box Office for 10/4/13-10/6/13 (Estimates)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 Gravity WARNER BROS. $55,550,000 New $55,550,000
2 Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 SONY $21,500,000 - 37% $60,557,000
3 Runner Runner Fox $7,600,000 New $7,600,000
4 Prisoners Warner Bros. Pictures $5,700,000 - 48% $47,880,000
5 Rush UNIVERSAL $4,408,280 - 56% $18,094,599
6 Don Jon Relativity $4,160,000 - 52% $16,077,317
7 Baggage Claim FOX SEARCHLIGHT $4,125,000 - 54% $15,185,100
8 Insidious: Chapter 2 Filmdistrict $3,876,000 - 41% $74,749,587
9 Pulling Strings Lionsgate/Pantelion $2,500,000 New $2,500,000
10 Enough Said FOX SEARCHLIGHT $2,150,000 + 2% $5,386,600
11 Instructions Not Included Lionsgate $1,850,000 - 47% $41,266,096
12 We're the Millers New Line Cinema $1,610,000 - 43% $144,900,000
  Also Opening/Notables
  Grace Unplugged Roadside Attractions $1,000,000 New $1,000,000
  Parkland Exclusive Media $335,438 New $335,438
  Linsanity Ketchup Entertainment $103,000 New $103,000
  A.c.o.d. The Film Arcade $20,047 New $20,047
  Nothing Left To Fear Anchor Bay $7,308 New $7,308
  All Is Bright Anchor Bay $4,088 New $4,088
  Metallica: Through the Never Picturehouse $700,000 - 56% $2,750,000
  Inequality For All Radius/twc $125,000 - 11% $325,000
  Muscle Shoals Magnolia $10,000 - 28% $27,500
  Wadjda Sony Classics $125,971 + 71% $466,437
  The Family Relativity $1,473,000 - 61% $34,578,903
  Lee Daniels' the Butler Weinstein Co. $1,188,000 - 51% $112,365,740
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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