Weekend Box Office (October 11 - 13, 2013)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND Alfonso Cuaron's space thriller Gravity easily held onto the box office crown, Tom Hanks had his biggest opening in nearly five years, only one family film is playing in over 500 theaters and those were the only films to make more than $4M this weekend.

Dropping a slim 23% from its record opening weekend, Warner Brothers Oscar shoo-in Gravity took in $43.2M, according to final studio figures, bringing its total to a stunning $122.3M in 10 days. Buoyed by some of the best reviews of any film this year, the Sandra Bullock/George Clooner-starrer has become the must-see film of the season. And talks of the demise of 3D have been put on hold as 85% of all moviegoers have been willing to pay extra for the visual spectacular. Gravity's second weekend gross is the 3rd highest of the year, behind only Iron Man 3 and Monsters University, both of which were released during the lucrative summer season. Look for Gravity to end its run with at least $225M and possibly more as the awards start to roll in. Universal executives must be kicking themselves for selling the rights to Warner.

Tom Hanks had his biggest live-action opening since the summer of 2009 (Angels & Demons/$46.2M) with Captain Phillips which opened to $25.7M for a per theater average of $8,516. The PG-13 drama was directed by Paul Greengrass and is based on the true story of Somali pirates that hijacked an American container ship. Last year's eventual Best Picture winner Argo, another critical favorite based on a true story that involved Americans in peril internationally, opened this same weekend in second place to $19.5M and an average of $6,020. Could a similar run be in place for the Sony picture which sees Hanks return to the critical and commercial success that audiences are used to seeing him in, after a series of misfires over the last few years?

Third place belonged to the sole family film in the top 10, Sony's animated sequel Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 which took in another $13.8M bringing its cume to $77.6M. After 17 days, Cloudy 2 is running about 5% behind the original which ended its run with $124.8M in 2009. With no family fare on the menu until November 1st (Free Birds), Cloudy 2 is still in position to match the final gross of the first film.

No other film managed to gross even $4M so the top 10 was very closely bunched together. Currently in fourth place with a hugely disappointing $3.8M was the Robert Rodriguez violent revenge thriller Machete Kills, which collected a poor per screen average of $1,512. Even with three years of a cult following, tons of extra star power and higher ticket prices, the Open Road pic could barely muster one-third of the opening weekend of Machete which opened to $11.4M in September of 2010. Rodriguez is great at making films on the cheap so the final chapter in the trilogy is still a possibility but this has to be a kick in the ego for the director as Machete Kills becomes his lowest grossing opening weekend ever for a film in wide release.

Dropping 51% from its tame opening was the Justin Timberlake/Ben Affleck gambling drama Runner Runner which took in $3.8M this weekend bringing its total to just $14.2M. Look for a final cume in the $20M range which is likely less than what Affleck will be making for playing Batman in the Superman vs. Batman flick due out in 2015. I don't image he's crying too much right now.

Warner Brothers' other star-laden fall drama Prisoners fell 37% to sixth place with $3.6M, bringing its total to $53.6M. Horror breakout Insidious Chapter 2 continued its strong run falling 30% to $2.7M bringing its total to $78.5M. Universal's former Oscar hopeful Rush continued its disappointing run falling 47% to $2.4M bringing its cume to only $22.2M.

A couple of different romantic comedies rounded out the top 10. Ninth place belonged to triple threat Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut Don Jon which brought in an additional $2.4M bringing its total to $20.2M. And Fox Searchlight's Baggage Claim followed close behind with $2M bringing its cume to $18.2M.

The top ten films grossed $103.4M which was down 12% from last year when Taken 2 remained at number one in its second weekend with $21.8M; but up 42% from 2011 when Real Steel also remained in the top spot in its second weekend with $16.3M.

Compared to projections, Captain Phillips came in above Gitesh's $18M forecast while Machete Kills came in below his $12M prediction.

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Read the NEW Blu-ray review for The Little Mermaid and the NEW DVD review of Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel.

Watch the trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Carrie, Escape Plan and The Fifth Estate all open.

# Title Oct 11 - 13 Oct 4 - 6 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Gravity $ 43,188,256 $ 55,785,112 -22.6 3,660 2 $ 11,800 $ 122,323,175 Warner Bros.
2 Captain Phillips 25,718,314 3,020 1 8,516 25,718,314 Sony
3 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 13,774,742 20,950,192 -34.3 3,874 3 3,556 77,611,419 Sony
4 Machete Kills 3,837,183 2,538 1 1,512 3,837,183 Open Road
5 Runner Runner 3,770,288 7,706,712 -51.1 3,026 2 1,246 14,159,246 Fox
6 Prisoners 3,635,392 5,748,464 -36.8 2,855 4 1,273 53,590,271 Warner Bros.
7 Insidious Chapter 2 2,720,492 3,899,566 -30.2 2,156 5 1,262 78,517,509 FilmDistrict
8 Rush 2,385,655 4,477,525 -46.7 2,130 4 1,120 22,222,924 Universal
9 Don Jon 2,369,453 4,155,261 -43.0 1,996 3 1,187 20,170,603 Relativity
10 Baggage Claim 2,033,062 4,075,011 -50.1 1,320 3 1,540 18,230,540 Fox Searchlight
11 Enough Said 1,911,256 2,192,642 -12.8 606 4 3,154 8,162,855 Fox Searchlight
12 Pulling Strings 1,270,218 2,467,168 -48.5 428 2 2,968 4,244,686 Lionsgate
13 We're the Millers 1,101,966 1,605,475 -31.4 1,150 10 958 146,525,205 Warner Bros.
14 Instructions Not Included 1,041,966 1,842,297 -43.4 711 7 1,465 42,716,454 Lionsgate
15 The Butler 623,672 1,227,395 -49.2 980 9 636 113,544,443 Weinstein Co.
16 The Family 583,845 1,531,825 -61.9 1,050 5 556 35,808,194 Relativity
17 Grace Unplugged 524,412 997,949 -47.5 502 2 1,045 1,748,520 Roadside Attr.
18 Romeo and Juliet 520,116 461 1 1,128 520,116 Relativity
19 Despicable Me 2 505,615 485,010 4.2 434 15 1,165 363,060,130 Universal
20 Monsters University 356,823 421,057 -15.3 235 17 1,518 267,047,978 Disney
Top 5 $ 90,288,783 $ 94,668,005 -4.6
Top 10 103,432,837 111,457,653 -7.2
Top 20 111,872,726 121,356,495 -7.8
Top 20 vs. 2012 111,872,726 126,526,896 -11.6

Last Updated: October 14, 2013 at 6:10PM ET

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