Weekend Box Office: Matt and Jodie on Top

This weekend was a mixed bag. Two R-rated movies went head-to-head, and the over-population of family films continued to compete against each other. Collectively, their numbers were big, but individually, none truly impressed.

Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Elysium‘ won the top spot with $30.4 million, but that’s hardly a win. With Matt Damon and Jodie Foster starring, how is that the movie opened lower than Blomkamp’s last film? With a no-name cast, ‘District 9‘earned a $37.3 million in its opening weekend. Even with IMAX ticket prices, ‘Elysium’ couldn’t keep up. The film is playing well overseas, so it’s not a complete let-down, but just like the movie itself, its opening weekend was underwhelming.

After an impressive Wednesday debut, ‘We’re the Millers‘ stayed strong through the weekend. The raunchy comedy earned nearly $12 million from Wednesday and Thursday showings, and pulled in another $22.5 million over the actual weekend, for a $38 million five-day total.

Planes‘ was originally estimated to come in just behind ‘Elysium’, but that wasn’t the case. Perhaps it’s that the movie is obviously direct-to-video quality, or perhaps it’s due to the over-saturation of kids’ movies in theaters, but the ‘Cars’ spin-off didn’t perform well at all. The movie only earned $22.5 million from more than 3,700 screens. For those of us burned out by the flood of animated movies, take consolation that the next one doesn’t open until mid-September.

Of the four wide releases, ‘Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters‘ came in last. The 3D teen adventure sequel only grossed $14.6 million from 3,000 theaters. Like ‘We’re the Millers’, ‘Percy’ opened to decent Wednesday and Thursday numbers. However, it had no stamina. After five days, the $90 million film has only earned $23.4 million. Back in 2010, ‘Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief‘ did nearly twice the business – and that one didn’t have the added bonus of 3D ticket prices!

Last week’s winner ‘2 Guns‘ rounded out the Top 5. The film dropped 59% in attendance and pulled in another $11.1 million. After ten days, the buddy action flick has earned $48.5 million.

Of the three bigger indie releases, only two have had their numbers announced so far. Amanda Seyfried’s porn bio-pic ‘Lovelace‘ actually performed worse than Lindsay Lohan’s trashy sex drama ‘The Canyons’, which debuted last week. On 118 screens, ‘Lovelace’ only earned $184,000 and a per-screen average of $1,559. Meanwhile, Lake Bell’s ‘In a World…‘ played the way that every limited release hopes to. On three screens, the comedy earned $71,000, for a per-screen average of $23,667.

Top 10:

1. ‘Elysium’ (Sony) – $30,400,000

2. ‘We’re the Millers’ (Warner Bros.) – $26,555,000

3. ‘Planes’ (Buena Vista) – $22,525,000

4. ‘Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters’ (Fox) – $14,600,000

5. ‘2 Guns’ (Universal) – $11,128,000

6. ‘The Smurfs 2’ (Sony) – $9,500,000

7. ‘The Wolverine’ (Fox) – $8,000,000

8. ‘The Conjuring’ (Warner Bros.) – $6,700,000

9. ‘Despicable Me 2’ (Universal) – $5,748,000

10. ‘Grown Ups 2’ (Sony) – $3,700,000

2 comments

  1. Jodie foster was directed terribly in this film, she is capable of being such a better actress than she is here. This movie was nowhere near the quality that NB delivered with district 9, the visuals are outstanding and the world of the characters seems utterly believable. But after all the work to get that on screen the storyline just wasn’t there. And if I meet the DP that started the shakey cam craze in The sequel to the Bourne Identity I’ll smack him right in the mouth. So sick of this bandaid for poor fight choreography. I pay to see a movie, not a blurry fight scene.

  2. myka

    I gave Elysium a shot last night & wasn’t impressed. Damon was fine , but that was about it. The story itself was a ripoff & combo of District 9 & Johnny Mnemonic. Foster wasn’t good either. Hopefully Blomkamp will stop retreading after this.

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