October 14, 2013 by Vinnie Leduc
Gravity is still the captain of the domestic box office as it easily deflected Captain Phillips‘ bid to ground the defending champ over the weekend. After taking down the October opening record the previous weekend, Alfonso Cuarón’s 3D sci-fi thriller continued to soar and only dropped a scant 23% from its initial take. Gravity‘s sophomore numbers equal the best non-holiday hold for a movie that opened over $50 million, and its IMAX numbers over the weekend marginally beat The Dark Knight Rises to claim the IMAX record for highest second weekend gross ever.
Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips, which depicts Tom Hanks as the titular man aboard the Maersk Alabama during 2009’s hijacking by Somali pirates, still enjoyed some smooth sailing in its debut in the runner-up spot. It pushed 3D computer-animated adventure Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 to third place.
Also opening was Grindhouse spin-off sequel Machete Kills. Despite an eclectic cast, the low-budget action flick did no such killing at the box office and landed at No. 8 on the list of lowest openings ever for a movie playing in 2,500 theaters. It settled for fourth place overall and barely edged holdover Runner Runner, which had the 15th lowest debut for a movie opening in over 3,000 theaters when it was released the previous weekend.
This upcoming weekend Gravity will try to hold its ground once again and join Lee Daniels’ The Butler as the only movies so far this year to three-peat at the domestic box office. Standing in its way will be horror remake Carrie, WikiLeaks thriller The Fifth Estate, and Arnie-Sly geriatric action flick Escape Plan.
Here are the numbers for the top five over the weekend via BOM:
- Gravity — Weekend Gross: $43.2 million — Total Gross: $122.3 million (#1 last week)
- Captain Phillips — Weekend Gross: $25.7 million — Total Gross: $25.7 million (new)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 — Weekend Gross: $13.8 million — Total Gross: $77.76 million (#2 last week)
- Machete Kills — Weekend Gross: $3.84 million — Total Gross: $3.84 million (new)
- Runner Runner — Weekend Gross: $3.77 million — Total Gross: $14.2 million (#3 last week)
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