September 23, 2013 by Vinnie Leduc
Prisoners, a crime thriller drawing Oscar buzz thanks to Hugh Jackson’s intense performance as a father searching for his kidnapped daughter, locked up the domestic weekend box office for the easy win. Produced and fully financed by Alcon Entertainment, Prisoners enjoyed the studio’s second biggest opening ever behind The Blind Side, which scored an Oscar for Sandra Bullock. Four members headlining the Prisoners cast (Hugh Jackman, Terrence Howard, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Viola Davis) are previous Oscar nominees themselves, and co-star Melissa Leo is a two-time nominee who took home the statue a few years ago for her work in The Fighter.
The other major release over the weekend, dance movie Battle of the Year, flopped into fifth place and barely beat drug-smuggling comedy We’re the Millers in its seventh weekend. Reigning champ Insidious: Chapter 2 slipped to the runner-up spot, and Luc Besson’s mob action comedy The Family fell to third. Mexican dramedy Instructions Not Included climbed back into the top five at fourth place.
The upcoming weekend is crowded with new releases, including the wide expansion of Ron Howard’s racing biopic Rush, animated sequel Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut Don Jon, and rom-com Baggage Claim.
Here are the numbers for the top five over the weekend via BOM:
- Prisoners — Weekend Gross: $20.8 million — Total Gross: $20.8 million (new)
- Insidious: Chapter 2 — Weekend Gross: $13.8 million — Total Gross: $60.2 million (#1 last week)
- The Family — Weekend Gross: $7.0 million — Total Gross: $25.6 million (#2 last week)
- Instructions Not Included — Weekend Gross: $5.4 million — Total Gross: $34.0 million (#6 last week)
- Battle of the Year — Weekend Gross: $4.6 million — Total Gross: $4.6 million (new)
You can discuss this with more MediaStinger fans on Facebook, you can follow us on Twitter at @MediaStinger, and you can follow writer Vinnie Leduc on Twitter at @MovieVVhore.
