Box Office RESULTS August 30, 2013 - September 1, 2013

Alright ladies and gents, here are the latest box office results. The conversation for a lot of the summer has revolved around how bad so many of this year's movies have been and yet, Exhibitor Relations reports it was a record summer at the domestic box office with this year's crop of films estimated to have brought in $4.75 billion (10.5% over 2012) with 582 million tickets sold, the highest number of tickets since 2007.

Leading the charge on this final weekend was Morgan Spurlock's One Direction: This is Us concert documentary, which opened with an estimated $17 millionand received an "A" CinemaScore from the groupies in attendance. Expectations are for the film to cross $20.5 million by the end of the four day weekend.

Moving on to the Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez thriller Getaway I have to wonder, what kept fans away? Was it the 2% RottenTomatoes rating or were the trailers enough? Maybe it was simply word of mouth as opening night audiences gave it a "C+" CinemaScore, which pretty much translates to an "F" and for good reason, the movie is terrible and it reflects in its $4.5 million opening.

The biggest news of this weekend, however, is the staying power of Lee Daniels' The Butler, which only dropped 11% in its second weekend for $14.7 million, bringing its domestic cume to $74 million. Oscar talk may be ramping up with screenings out of Telluride and Venice, but The Butler is putting money where its mouth is and has assured us it will be part of the conversation over the coming award season. 

Below that we have Focus' new thriller Closed Circuit, which the studio opened on Wednesday and played in only 862 theaters this weekend and it wasn't playing to full houses. The film brought in an estimated $2.5 million and it's likely the last time we'll even hear of it.

Just below Closed Circuit is Wong Kar Wai's Grandmaster, which expanded into 749 theaters this weekend and brought home $2.4 million. Check out the list below for the remainder of the top 12 films in theaters. 

TW	LW	Title	Studio	Weekend
1	-	One Direction: This Is Us	TriStar Pictures (Sony)	$17,000,000
2	1	Lee Daniels' The Butler	The Weinstein Company	$14,742,000
3	2	We're the Millers	New Line Cinema (Warner Bros.)	$12,610,000
4	5	Disney's Planes	Walt Disney Pictures	$7,756,000
5	-	Instructions Not Included	Lionsgate (Pantelion Films)	$7,500,000
6	7	Elysium	TriStar Pictures (Sony)	$6,300,000
7	3	The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones	Screen Gems (Sony)	$5,200,000
8	4	The World's End	Focus Features	$4,759,000
9	-	Getaway	Warner Bros. Pictures	$4,505,000
10	8	Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters	20th Century Fox	$4,425,000
11	10	Blue Jasmine	Sony Pictures Classics	$4,021,000
12	6	You're Next	Lionsgate	$4,000,000

Box office RESULTS: August 23, 2013 - August 25, 2013

Welcome to the box office results ! Let's get started shall we:

1

Lee Daniels' The Butler

The Weinstein Company

$16,503,812

starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey and an impressive ensemble cast, remained atop the box office with $17 million in its second weekend, a strong 69% hold from its opening weekend as it brought its gross to $52.3 million. The independently-financed movie that took five years to get made and experienced issues when its title was put into question in a lawsuit looks to be another solid hit for The Weinstein Company who will likely ride the film's box office success all the way to Oscar night as they have with past films. 

2

We're the Millers

New Line Cinema (Warner Bros.)

$13,047,119

For a third weekend in a row, the R-rated road comedy We're the Millers (New Line/WB), starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis, retained second place, a milestone that's often unheard of even during the slower month of August. It brought in an additional $13.5 million this weekend, down just 25% last week, and it's well on its way to cross $100 million by Labor Day with $91 million grossed thus far. 

3

-

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Screen Gems (Sony)

$9,336,957

After opening on Wednesday and grossing $4.7 million in its first two days, Screen Gems' adaptation of Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, starring Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower, brought in $9.3 million over the weekend to take third place with $14.1 million grossed in its first five days.

4

-

The World's End

Focus Features

$8,790,237

Director Edgar Wright reunited with his long-time collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost for the third chapter in their "Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy," The World's End, which was released into 1,548 theaters on Friday--more than either of the previous installments Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead. It grossed $8.9 million over the weekend or $5,620 per location, which was the best per-theater average in the Top 10, to take fourth place. That was a stronger opening than Hot Fuzz, which opened with $5.8 million in 825 theaters back in April 2007, although that also expanded into 400 more theaters in its second weekend. There's no word whether Focus plans on capitalizing on the film's buzz to expand over Labor Day weekend.

5

Disney's Planes

Walt Disney Pictures

$8,575,214

Disney's Planes dropped to fifth place in its third weekend where it held well with $8.5 million added to its total take of $59.5 million.

6

-

You're Next

Lionsgate

$7,020,196

7

Elysium

TriStar Pictures (Sony)

$6,926,280

8

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

20th Century Fox

$5,274,716

9

Kick-Ass 2

Universal Pictures

$4,373,310

10

Blue Jasmine

Sony Pictures Classics

$3,972,687

11

2 Guns

Universal Pictures

$3,359,825

12

JOBS

Open Road Films

$2,866,014

Box Office RESULTS August 16, 2013 - August 18, 2013

 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.

		Title
		Lee Daniels' The Butler
		We're the Millers
		Elysium
		Kick-Ass 2
		Disney's Planes
		Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
		JOBS
		2 Guns
		The Smurfs 2
		The Wolverine
		The Conjuring
		Despicable Me 2