August 13, 2013 by Vinnie Leduc
All four new major releases of last weekend opened at the top of the domestic box office, but leading the pack as the overall winner is either sci-fi action adventure Elysium, an honorable mention for one of our most anticipated movies of the year, or drug-smuggling comedy We’re the Millers depending on how you look at the crowded box office battle. Elysium, the sophomore effort of Oscar Best Picture nominee District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, technically led the numbers game with $29.8 million since Friday, but that significantly trails the $37.4 million opening take of District 9. Opening a couple of days earlier, We’re the Millers scored $26.4 million over the traditional three-day weekend, but it’s made nearly $38 million total, impressive considering its R rating.
Landing in third place was Planes, Disney’s computer-animated spin-off to Pixar’s Cars. The formerly direct-to-video project took off with a decent $22.2 million maiden voyage that’s good for biggest opening ever for an animated movie released in the month of August. The final entry of the quartet of new releases, literary adaptation Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, flopped its way to fourth place with $14.4 million over the three-day weekend ($23.3 million since its early Wednesday opening); the fantasy adventure sequel had a reported budget of $90 million. 2 Guns, the action comedy that was the reigning champ the previous weekend, rounded out the top five.
In other news, World War Z, one of our most anticipated movies of 2013, crossed the $300 million mark internationally to add to its domestic total of just under $200 million for a grand total that’s the best yet for a Brad Pitt movie.
The upcoming weekend again further crowds theaters with another set of four new releases: Apple pioneer biopic Jobs, ensemble historical drama Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Liam Hemsworth thriller Paranoia, and action comedy superhero sequel Kick-Ass 2, one of our most anticipated movies of the year.
Here are the numbers for the top five over the weekend via BOM:
- Elysium — Weekend Gross: $29.8 million — Total Gross: $29.8 million (new)
- We’re the Millers — Weekend Gross: $26.4 million — Total Gross: $37.9 million (new)
- Planes — Weekend Gross: $22.2 million — Total Gross: $22.2 million (new)
- Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters — Weekend Gross: $14.4 million — Total Gross: $23.3 million (new)
- 2 Guns — Weekend Gross: $11.2 million — Total Gross: $48.6 million (#1 last week)
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