Even though box office grosses slipped between 39 to 52%, this weekend’s Top 4 line-up is exactly the same as last weekend’s. The three major new releases pathetically debuted in the #7, #10 and #12 spots.
In first place, ‘The Expendables 2‘ has now made $52.3 million over two weekends. Three weeks deep, ‘The Bourne Legacy‘ is up to $85.5 million and remains in the #2 spot. As I hoped, positive word of mouth has helped ‘ParaNorman‘. With a second weekend drop-off of 39%, the stop-motion kids’ flick has grossed $28.2 million. The two-time fourth place film is the political comedy ‘The Campaign‘, which has now made $64.5 million.
The fifth and sixth place movies swapped places from last weekend. Six-week-old ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ jumped back into the Top 5, while ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green‘ slipped to #6. ‘Rises’ has now earned $422 million domestically. Internationally, it has passed the gross of the second installment, ‘The Dark Knight’. Meanwhile, ‘Timothy Green’ has made a total of $27 million over its two weeks in theaters.
Finally, that brings us to the first of the three nationwide openers: ‘Premium Rush‘. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a thrill-seeking New York City bicycle courier, this low-budget action flick only drew in enough moolah to secure the #7 spot. Budgeted at a little more than $30 million, its mild $6.3 million opening isn’t great news for Sony.
Drawing a lot of press is the Right-wing documentary ‘2016: Obama’s America‘. With a major expansion to 1,091-theaters this weekend, perfectly timed for the Republican National Convention, the film was up 401% in attendance and landed in the Top 10.
Finishing off the Top 10 was ‘Hit & Run‘. Starring real-life couple Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell, the comedic caper flick earned $2 million more than expected, for a total of $5.8 million during its five-day run.
The least of this weekend’s wide openers was Warner Bros.’ PG-13 paranormal thriller ‘The Apparition‘, which drew only $2.9 million on 810 screens. The $17 million title is already on track to being a big flop.
Amidst the fizzling new releases, the most successful per-screen average was achieved by the Sundance indie comedy ‘Sleepwalk with Me‘. Mike Birbiglia’s flick earned a whopping $65,000 on just one screen in New York City.
Top 10:
1. ‘The Expendables 2’ (Lionsgate) – $13,500,000
2. ‘The Bourne Legacy’ (Universal) – $9,300,000
3. ‘ParaNorman’ (Focus) – $8,546,000
4. ‘The Campaign’ (Warner Bros.) – $7,440,000
5. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (Warner Bros.) – $7,150,000
6. ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green’ (Buena Vista) – $7,125,000
7. ‘Premium Rush’ (Sony) – $6,300,000
8. ‘2016: Obama’s America’ (Rocky Mountain) – $6,238,000
9. ‘Hope Springs’ (Sony) – $6,000,000
10. ‘Hit and Run’ (Open Road) – $4,675,000
