It was obvious from the get-go which movie would hold onto the top spot at the box office this weekend. What comes as a surprise is how much heat its counter-programming competition was able to bring.
Marvel’s hammer-wielding superhero beat another $38.4 million out of moviegoer’s wallets, bringing its domestic ten-day total to $146.9 million. Internationally, the 3D blockbuster has brought in $332.8 million. Although it dropped more than 55% from its debut, ‘Thor: The Dark World‘ has already earned more than the lifetime totals of ‘Captain America: The First Avenger‘ or the original ‘Thor‘.
No forecaster predicted the amazing opening for Universal’s ‘The Best Man Holiday‘. On slightly more than 2,000 screens, the 14-years-later sequel opened to a solid $30.5 million. This makes it the fifth-highest grossing R-rated romantic comedy of all time. The marketing efforts, which were directed at a specific audience, proved highly successful. 87% of viewers were black and 75% were female. This year’s earlier ‘Instructions Not Included’ has started an impressive string of demographic-specific films. Expect to see this trend continue.
‘Last Vegas‘ is holding on better than some of its geriatric cast. Weekend number three for the comedy warranted only a 19% decline in attendance, for another $8.8 million in sales. After 17 days, the $28-million comedy has earned nearly $47 million.
November’s first family flick, ‘Free Birds‘, followed closely behind, dropping 25% in attendance, adding another $8.3 million to its $42.2 million haul. Until Disney’s ‘Frozen’ opens Thanksgiving week, ‘Free Birds’ has free range at the box office.
Rounding out the Top 5 was four-weekend-old ‘Bad Grandpa‘. The $7.6 million weekend for Johnny Knoxville’s hidden camera comedy has brought its run up to $90.2 million, based on a budget of about $15 million.
It’s worth noting that ‘Gravity‘ passed the $500 million mark worldwide, and that ‘Captain Phillips‘ will cross the domestic $100 million mark within the next week. The films are seven-weeks-old and six-weeks-old respectively, and both are still in the Top 10.
The four-screen release of Alexander Payne’s ‘Nebraska‘ collected $140,000, for the highest per-screen average of the weekend with $35,000.
Shia LaBeouf’s ‘Charlie Countryman‘, however, didn’t do so well. On 15 screens, the $8,600 debut gave it the third-lowest per-screen average of $573.
Numbers have yet to be announced for concert doc ‘12-12-12‘.
Top 10:
1. ‘Thor: The Dark World’ (Buena Vista) – $38,454,000
2. ‘The Best Man Holiday’ (Universal) – $30,593,000
3. ‘Last Vegas’ (CBS) – $8,850,000
4. ‘Free Birds’ (Relativity) – $8,300,000
5. ‘Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa’ (Paramount) – $7,670,000
6. ‘Gravity’ (Warner Bros.) – $6,280,000
7. ‘Ender’s Game’ (Summit) – $6,200,000
8. ’12 Years a Slave’ (Fox Searchlight) – $4,700,000
9. ‘Captain Phillips’ (Sony) – $4,500,000
10. ‘About Time’ (Universal) – $3,462,000
