It was one of the slowest box office weekends of the year, with the top 10 earning less than $75 million total.
Prisoners (read our review) is the number 1 film this weekend with a decent $21 million. Heading into the weekend, box office analysts thought Prisoners‘ long running-time would keep it below last week’s number 1, Insidious. Thankfully, Prisoners had strong word of mouth and a star-studded cast working in its favor.
As was mentioned, Insidious Chapter 2 comes in at number 2 with $14.5 million. James Wan’s sequel has already outgrossed its predecessor with $60 million domestic, but it will likely not match 2013’s reigning horror king, The Conjuring ($136 million).
Coming in at number 3 is The Family with $7 million, which brings its domestic total up to $25 million. The Robert DeNiro action-comedy has done so-so business at the box office, but it will definitely make back its $30 million budget.
In at number 4 is Instructions Not Included, which got a 17% bump this weekend and earned $5.7 million. Instructions has been one of the biggest surprises of the year, and is soon to become the fourth highest grossing foreign film of all time with $34 million.
Battle of the Year (read our review) opens in the number 5 spot this weekend with $5 million. Although the dance battle movie only opened on 2,008 screens (not exactly a wide release), the film’s opening is still very disappointing.
By comparison, last year’s Step Up Revolution opened with $11 million. The genre enjoyed its time in the limelight, but it looks the dance battle movie might be on its way out.
The number 6 film this weekend is the R-rated comedy We’re the Millers with $4.6 million. The film has grossed $138 million over 7 weeks, and is one of the bigger unexpected success stories of the year.
In at number 7 is Lee Daniels’ The Butler with $4.3 million. The surefire Oscar contender crossed the $100 million mark last weekend, and is now up to $106 million total.
Riddick drops to number 8 with $3.6 million. Now at $37 million, this third film in the franchise is so close to surpassing its $38 million budget. Will that be enough to jump-start talk of a sequel?
The re-release of The Wizard of Oz in 3D and IMAX takes the number 9 spot this week with $3 million on only 318 screens ($9,503/screen). That tally is slightly better than some previous 3D releases, like Top Gun and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but likely not enough to justify the 3D conversion just yet.
Disney’s Planes rounds out the top 10 with $2.8 million. The animated film has grossed $86 million over 7 weeks.
Outside the top 10: Thanks for Sharing (read our review) earned $608,000 on 269 screens, James Gandolfini’s final film, Enough Said, pulled in $240,000 on 4 screens for a $60,000 average, and the Chris Hemsworth racing drama Rush opened with $200,000 on 5 screens. Rush goes wide next weekend.
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[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, September 23rd – at which time we’ll update this post with any changes.]
