Marvel wins the box office once again, but not without some stiff competition from the week’s only new release.
In at number 1 is Thor: The Dark World with $38 million. While not on the level of Iron Man 3, Thor 2 is still doing extremely well, posting high weekday numbers and continuing its dominance through its second weekend. The film is now up to $146 million domestic and $479 million worldwide.
The only new release of the weekend, The Best Man Holiday (read our review) comes in at number 2 with $30 million. For a good part of the weekend, The Best Man Holiday was neck-and-neck with Thor, and while it didn’t surpass Marvel’s sequel, the film still posted a surprisingly strong opening weekend tally.
The first Best Man film (released in 1999) opened to only $9 million, making The Best Man Holiday a huge improvement over its predecessor. Not only that, the film is likely to exceed the first film’s cumulative total of $34 million by Monday or Tuesday.
Last Vegas is the number 3 film with $8.8 million. The senior-centric comedy is doing extremely well in terms of retaining its audience, as other bigger new releases fall below it, and it has grossed $46 million over 3 weeks.
The animated film Free Birds is the number 4 film this weekend, trading spots with Last Vegas once again and grossing $8.3 million. Despite posting a low opening weekend tally, Free Birds has done decent business thus far, grossing $42 million overall.
Rounding out the top 5 is Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa with $7.6 million. Although typically the Jackass films tend to drop off drastically after week 1, this film has held strong over the last 4 weeks. The hidden camera comedy is now at $90 million.
Gravity comes in at number 6 with $6.28 million. Despite stiff competition, this box office success continues to retain most of its audience, and has grossed $240 million domestic. It is now the 5th highest grossing film of 2013.
Coming in at number 7 is Ender’s Game with $6.2 million. Unfortunately, it’s still bad news for Lionsgate’s big budget adaptation, which shows no signs of stability. By the time Lionsgate’s other big Fall release, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, hits theaters next weekend, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Ender’s Game fall off the top 10 completely. That being said, the film has grossed $53 million, which isn’t bad, but isn’t good considering the investment.
In at number 8 is 12 Years of Slave with $4.7 million, which brings its domestic total up to $24 million after 5 weeks. Steve McQueen’s latest film is starting to taper off after debuting to huge per-screen averages in the LA/NY markets. The film is likely to keep popping up in the top 10 as award show nominees are announced, but for now the film has presumably hit its apex.
Captain Phillips is the number 9 film this weekend with $4.5 million. It might not do so as part of the top ten, but with $97 million after 6 weeks, Captain Phillips is sure to cross the $100 million threshold. Not to mention, the film will likely be part of the awards season conversation.
Rounding out the top 10 is About Time with $3.4 million. Richard Curtis’ time-traveling romance film has been posting solid numbers since its release and subsequent expansion, and is now up to $11 million total.
Outside the top 10: Alexander Payne’s latest film, Nebraska (read our review), opened on 4 screens over the weekend and grossed $140,000 ($35,000/screen).
______
[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates – based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released on Monday, November 18th – at which time we’ll update this post with any changes.]
