Lee Daniels' The Butler, a historical drama with an all-star cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Jane Fonda, John Cusack, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, James Marsden and more took the box office crown this past weekend. It opened in first place with an estimated $25 million in 2,933 theaters, averaging roughly $8,500 per theater and surpassing most of the pre-weekend projections as it scored a solid A CinemaScore, which bodes well for long legs similar to the 2011 hit "The Help.'
The Jennifer Aniston-Jason Sudekis R-rated road comedy We're the Millers (New Line/WB) continued to do well based on opening weekend word-of-mouth, remaining in second place for a second week in a row with $17.8 million, down just 33% from last week, the smallest drop in the Top 10. It has grossed $69.5 million and stands a good chance to cross $100 million by summer's end.
Third place was a tight race but according to estimates, it went to Neill Blomkamp's sci-fi action flick Elysium (Sony), starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, which dropped 54% from its first place opening weekend and is just slightly ahead of another new movie with $13.6 million and $55.9 million grossed so far. Elysium opened in 20 new territories this weekend and added another $22 million overseas to bring its international total to $37.7 million and worldwide total to $93.6 million. It opened in 8 Western European markets including France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland.
The dark action movie sequel Kick-Ass 2 (Universal), based on the comic books by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Jim Carrey, failed to find much of an audience in its opening weekend, came in at number 4, bringing in an estimated $13.6 million in 2,940 theaters according to estimates. That's a significantly lower opening than the $19.8 million opening for the original movie roughly three years ago, following the recent trend of sequels not doing nearly as well as their earlier installments that has pervaded this summer for the most part.
Coming in right behind it with $13.1 million was another opener from last week, Disney's Planes, which has grossed $45.1 million domestic and $7.3 million at the international box office where it opened in 9 territories this weekend.
Check the list below for the rest of the results and we'll see you guys again on friday with the latest batch of films in theaters.