Riddick, Vin Diesel’s see-in-the-dark anti-hero, ain’t afraid of much. Packs of wild dingo-beasts? Nah. Poisonous, pincer-laden aliens? He has those for breakfast. Nasty, weapon-toting bounty hunters? Please. So clearly, a little competition at the box office isn’t going to make Riddick shake in his bloodied boots.
The R-rated Riddick was the biggest movie in the land (at least the North American land mass) over the weekend, slicing and hacking its way to an estimated $18.7 million take. That’s more than twice what the second-place film collected, a total that perhaps coaxed a rare smile out of Vin Diesel. The actor now owns the rights to the Riddick character—rights he was given in exchange for making a quick cameo in Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift. Not a bad trade for a few moments of screen time.
Not that it had a ton of competition. Riddick was the only major release of the weekend, and every other newbie this week finished outside the Top 20. The Ultimate Life, a Christian movie from High Top Releasing, was the highest-finishing also-ran, earning about $650,000 in around 400 theaters to finish 23rd.
Meanwhile, Lee Daniels’ The Butler finished in second place, grabbing another $8.9 million with its white-gloved hands. The film has been either No. 1 or 2 for the last month and, according to the prognosticators at boxofficemojo.com, will likely make its 100 millionth dollar sometime next weekend.
Instructions Not Included, the out-of-the-blue Spanish-speaking hit, continued its winning ways. It screened in nearly twice as many theaters this weekend as last, and its weekend take inched up to $8.1 million—good enough for third place. If this movie’s makers ever release instructions on how to make an unlikely hit, a lot of movie studio execs will likely be reading them.
Two long-in-the-tooth holdovers, We’re the Millers and Planes, rounded out the week’s Top Five. The Millers took in $7.9 million, while Planes glided to $4.3 mil.
Final figures update: 1. Riddick, $19.0 million; 2. The Butler, $8.4 million; 3. Instructions Not Included, $8.1 million; 4. We’re the Millers, $7.7 million; 5. Planes, $4.1 million.
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