1. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 - $35M - $35M
2. Prisoners - $11.2M - $38.9M
3. Rush - $10.3M - $10.5M
4. Baggage Claim - $9.3M -$9.3M
5. Don Jon - $9M -$9M
6. Insidious Chapter 2 - $6.7M - $69.5M
7. The Family - $3.6M - $31.6M
8. Instructions Not Included- $3.3M - $38.5M
9. We're The Millers - $2.8M - $142.4M
10. Lee Miller' The Butler - $2.4M - $110.2M
After a few quieter weeks, it's business as usual at the box office,
with four major releases joining the fray. The Cloudy With a Chance of
Meatballs sequel looked to take on Baggage Claim, Don Jon and an
expanding Rush. Prisoners was hoping to build on its impressive start
but with the increased competition, it would need to rely on the strong
word of mouth it had been accumulating. Next weekend brings the Justin
Timberlake/Ben Affleck drama, Runner Runner, plus the long awaited
release of Gravity.
The adaptation of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was based on the
book of the same name by author Judi Barrett. The critically acclaimed
film saw a wide release just over four years ago, and while not a major
hit (it earnt $124M against a budget of $100M), it certainly had its
fans and enjoyed a successful run on DVD. In something of a rarity,
especially in light of recent animated releases, the picture actually
made less money overseas than it did domestically ($118M versus the
aforementioned $124M). News of a sequel first emerged in April of 2010
when it was revealed that directors Phill Lord and Chris Miller would
not be returning to helm the sequel (the duo would take on 21 Jump
Street and The Lego Movie instead). In their place would be Cody Cameron
and Kris Pearn, both of whom who had worked on the original picture as
story board artist and head of story respectively. As work got underway,
it was revealed that new film would not be based on Barrett's follow up
book, Pickles in Pittsburgh, but would be an original story instead.
The majority of the principle cast would return for Cloudy 2: Revenge of
the Leftovers, including Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan and Neil
Patrick Harris. This time around, Flint joins The Live Corp Company and
finds himself tasked with cleaning up the island which was over run by
food in the first picture. However, upon his return, he discovers his
machine has continued to operate and has begun to create food beasts,
including Tacodiles and Shrimpanzees. With a December 2013 release date
announced, Sony chose to retitle the picture to Cloudy With a Chance of
Meatballs 2 (ensuring there was no confusion as to what the film was).
Its release was then pushed back to February 2014, before finally
settling on a late September debut. With a reduced budget of $78M, and
decent, though not spectacular reviews (it is currently 58% fresh at
Rotten Tomatoes), Meatballs 2 would face almost no direct competition,
save for the long-in-the tooth Planes. That meant there was every chance
it would take the September record that was currently held by the $42M
opener, Hotel Transylvania. However, it soon became apparent that that
wasn't to be the case.
Out to over 4,000 locations, Meatballs 2 got off to a solid, if slightly
unspectacular start on Friday, taking $9.3M during its first 24 hours.
In comparison, the original picture earnt $8.1M in the same time period,
so while the sequel was slightly ahead, it hadn't actually broken out
much further. With matinee showings in play, the film had a stronger
Saturday, making $15.1M, with another $10.5M coming on Sunday. That
meant that after three days on general release, Cloudy With a Chance of
Meatballs 2 had earnt $35M, and while the September record remained with
Hotel Transylvania, this was still a good showing, and stronger than
the $30M made during the original picture's first three days. The movie
will face no direct competition for the entirety of October so has the
potential to run and run, much like Planes has over the last few weeks.
In fact, Meatballs 2 won't face another family feature until Free Birds
on November 1st, at which point it should already be north of $100M.
Prisoners, which stars Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, opened to a
solid $20M last weekend despite an extended runtime and difficult
subject matter. Faced with four new releases, including direct
competition for the older adult market in the guise of Rush, Prisoners
dropped 52% on its second Friday, taking $3.3M in the process. It would
continued to spar with the Ron Howard picture through Saturday,
finishing up in second place on Sunday night with $11.2M (a not-bad drop
of 45% on last weekend). All up, that gives Prisoners a ten day total
of $38.9M, and puts it on track to recover it $46M production cost by
the end of next weekend.
Having opening in a limited capacity last weekend, Rush expanded into
just under 2,300 locations this frame. The film is a biographical work
depicting the rivalry between Formula One drivers James Hunt and Niki
Lauda, during the 1976 world championship. Directed by Ron Howard, and
starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl, Rush has seen some of the
best reviews of Howard's career, and has already gone down a storm in
the United Kingdom and other parts of the world, where Formula One is a
much larger draw. During its limited opening it earnt $187K over its
first three days. With expansion on Friday, Rush performed the best of
all the other new releases, slotting into second place with $3.7M.
Strong word of mouth kept it buoyant over the main body of the weekend,
enabling it to add a further $6.6M and bring its total to $10.3M -
though it did ultimately lose out to Prisoners. How it'll fair next
weekend up against Gravity will depend on whether the picture and its
subject matter can break out further into the mainstream. Overseas Rush
has so far made $13M, a figure that should grow with further territory
expansion.
Baggage Claim is a romantic comedy directed by David E. Talbert, and is
based on his book of the same name. Montana Moore wants to ensure she
isn't oldest, still unmarried member of her family, and thanks to
connections at an airline, she sets off on a 30 day - 30,000 mile
odyssey to find a potential suitor - even if it ends up being an
ex-boyfriend. Like Don Jon, Baggage Claim was produced relatively
cheaply, clocking in at around $8.5M. While reviews were generally poor,
there was a chance the film would break out as had happened with the
2012 hit, Think Like A Man. That picture came out of nowhere and made a
staggering $33M during its first three days on release, ending up with a
North American finish of $91M. If the feature could do just a fraction
of that business, it would turn out to be a very profitable release for
Fox Searchlight. Opening at the least number of locations of all of this
week's new releases (2,027), Baggage Claim clashed with Don Jon on
Friday, when it made $3.27M, settling for fifth place. It would make
$5.6M more over the remainder of the frame, giving it an ok three-day
total of $9.3M. On a quieter weekend, the feature may have broken out
much further and cleared $12M. However, with its costs covered during
its opening days, Baggage Claim will turn a profit for the studio, even
if it doesn't stick around for long.
Don Jon is a new romantic-comedy drama, written by, directed by and
starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as its titular character. It follows the
life of Jon Martello, a single guy addicted to pornography, and Barbara
Sugarman (played by Scarlet Johansson), a girl who has a thing for
romance flicks. Jon's week consists of watching pornography, weight
training, one night stands and attending church to confess his sins, but
all that looks to change when he meets Barbara in a bar and is unable
to pick her up. Opting to change tact, he finds himself in unfamiliar
territory when he begins to pursue her, but the pair soon begin to
realise their respective fantasy versions of sex and romance may not
live up to the reality. Levitt began work on Don Jon in 2008, and
received feedback from both Rian Johnson and Christopher Nolan, the
later advising him against directing and acting in the picture for fear
of overwhelming himself. In addition to Johansson, Levitt also cast
Julianne Moore, Brie Larson and Tony Danza, who would play Jon Martello
Snr.
With production getting underway in May 2012, Don Jon made its assured
debut at the Sundance film festival in January 2013, receiving high
praise for Levitt's work both in front of, and behind the camera. That
early word transformed into some great mainstream reviews, and the film
sat on an impressive 82% approval rating prior to its release. While the
film's unconventional subject matter made it a slight harder sell than a
run of the mill romantic comedy (such as this week's Baggage Claim),
the strong word combined with its $6M budget meant Don Jon would need
only a half decent debut to cover all its costs. A $3.29M Friday put it
just $15K ahead of Baggage Claim, and helped it slot into fourth place.
It would make $3.4M on Saturday, and another $2.2M on Sunday, bringing
its overall opening figure to $9M. Given its screen count and
competition (both direct and indirect), this is a decent enough start,
and with those strong reviews, singles Levitt out as a writing/directing
talent to watch.
Unlike the well-received Conjuring (James Wan's other release of 2013)
Insidious Chapter 2 failed to avoid the usual second weekend horror film
collapse, making $13M (a fall of 65%). A week on, with more new
releases thrown into the mix, the Insidious sequel earnt $6.7M. That
brought its cumulative gross to just under $70M. Against a budget of
just $5M, this is a very impressive turn, even with its quick collapse.
It should top out at around $85-90M in North America, with at least half
of that again possible overseas. Next up for director James Wan is a
change of pace, as he takes on the Summer 2014 release, Fast and Furious
7.
The Robert De Niro/Michelle Pfeffier comedy, The Family, dropped down to
seventh place this weekend, making $3.6M. It has now made $31.6M in
North America, against a production budget of $30M. It could see at
least one more frame in the top ten and finish up with around $40-45M.
Spanish language comedy-drama, Instructions Not Included is now the
fourth most successful foreign language film in North America. To date
it has made $38.5M, having added another $3.3M over the last few days.
The Jason Sudekis/Jennifer Aniston flick, We're The Millers, is now in
its eighth weekend in the top ten. It has earnt more than $140M
domestically, with another $95M overseas. In terms of 2013 comedy
releases and the international market, only The Hangover Part III have
made more money.
Lee Daniels' The Butler made $2.4M this weekend, bringing its overall
total to $110.2M, against a budget of $30M. The ensemble drama has had a
very good run over the past month or so, and should end its run with
around $120M.
Managing to crash into thirteenth place from just 308 locations is
Metallica: Through the Never, an Imax thriller-cum-concert movie.
Spliced with footage from their recent tour is a sub-plot which sees
Dane DeHaan as a roadie on a surreal mission for the band. Through The
Never made $1.6M over its opening three days, and expands nationwide
next week.
Looking back to a few older releases, animation-wise Despicable Me 2 now
has a global total of $854M, while Turbo has managed to get up to
$173M. Pixar's Monsters University is now the studio's fourth most
successful picture in North American, having made $265M. It's global
total clocks in at $736M. August's Smurfs sequel could only manage $69M
domestically, but has so far cleared $238M overseas.
While The Wolverine was the lowest grossing X-Men film in North
American, globally it has made $370M, against its $120M production
budget. The Wahlberg-Washington buddy cop actioner, 2 Guns, has made
$74M and is just getting started overseas, where it has so far made
$21M. Having seemingly struggled domestically, Pacific Rim still managed
to clear $101M, with an impressive $305M overseas. World War Z is just
shy of $540M globally, Man of Steel sits at $662M. Summer sleeper Now
You See Me has made a staggering $305M, while The Heat scored $158M in
North America and $64M abroad. Elyisum, which is still in general
release, now has an overall total of $248M (against $120M costs). In
terms of successes, The Conjuring must rate as one of 2013's biggest -
from a budget of $20M, it has a current global figure of $297M.
In terms of disappointments, The Lone Ranger has managed to rack up a
$245M global total, against its $215M cost. Red 2 is at $126M (including
$52M domestically), which wouldn't be too bad had it not cost $84M to
produce. Kick Ass 2 recouped its $28M costs, and made a further $31M
overseas, but RIPD is still a long way short of its $130M costs, having
so far made $70M (split $33M/$37M). Finally, City of Bones stalled at
only $30M in the US, and talk of an already-greenlit sequel quickly
vanished.
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