Blood-soaked, telekinetic adolescents just don’t move audiences like they used to.
So was the message from this weekend’s box office derby—a race that saw Gravity defy itself for another week and float to the top of the pile with an estimated $31 million. It didn’t quite lap the field, but it came close: Captain Phillips, another critically acclaimed holdover, was the space drama’s nearest competition with $17.3 million.
This marks the third straight weekend Gravity has earned the No. 1 slot.
Carrie, a horrifying remake of the 1976 Sissy Spacek fright flick, slouched to a third-place finish. It spirited just $17 million from audiences—a pretty low debut for a horror movie, according to Box Office Mojo, and a particularly scary one for its makers, considering it’s the only cinematic creeper on the docket for October. Perhaps everyone felt that this version of Carrie was all trick, no treat.
Or perhaps audiences just didn’t want to have anything to do with those ever-so-groovy 1970s—which might explain the failure of another new release, Escape Plan. Its stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who both launched their careers in that decade. (Sly Stallone’s signature flick Rocky was released in November of 1976, five days after the original Carrie.) Whatever the reason, Escape Plan earned just $9.8 million to finish fifth, $300,000 behind the stalwart Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.
Could Gravity make it a fourth straight week? It’s got a shot. It’ll be challenged by the star-studded (but odd-looking) thriller The Counselor and Jacka‑‑ Presents: Bad Grandpa. According to boxoffice.com, Bad Grandpa is expected to open with about $24 million, which might put it in a dead heat with the champ. Time will tell.
Final Figures update: 1. Gravity, $30 million; 2. Chaptain Phillips, $16.4 million; 3. Carrie, $16.1 million. Escape Plan earned slightly more than early estimates suggested ($9.9 million), and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 earned slightly less ($9.7 million), so the two swapped places in the final earnings.
Recent Comments