Weekend Wrap-Up: Bad Grandpa Makes Box Office Look Good
October 29, 2013
The month long slump 2013 has been on is finally over, thanks in part to Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa. However, the overall box office still wasn't that good, as it was down slightly from last weekend to $102 million. Granted, "slightly" in this case means a fraction of 1%, so it isn't troubling. On the other hand, it was 10% higher than the same weekend last year. Unfortunately, year-to-date, 2013's lead over 2012 has shrunk to just $50 million or 0.6% at $8.49 billion to $8.44 billion. In fact, 2013 has not sold less tickets than 2012 had at this point in its run. That's not good and it is unlikely things will turn around in the coming few weeks.
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa earned first place with $32.06 million, which is just a little higher than predicted. The reviews are good and the internal multiplier was better than expected, so its legs might be strong. I don't think it will hang on long enough to reach $100 million, but then again, it doesn't need to to break even.
Gravity finished the weekend in second place with $20.14 million, while its running tally rose to $199.65 million. It has already reached $200 million on Monday, while it is on pace to cross $250 million in total.
Captain Phillips matched expectations nearly perfectly with $11.64 million over the weekend for a total of $69.92 million after three weeks of release. Given its reviews and legs so far, it should be able to get to $100 million, but it will be close.
The Counselor missed expectations, and expectations were really low to begin with. It managed fourth place, but with just $7.84 million in 3,044 theaters. Its reviews were bad, but not this bad. Worse still, with a low per theater average, many theater owners will be looking to drop this film as soon as they are contractually able to.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 remained in the top five for one more weekend, which helped it get to $100 million. It pulled in $6.28 million over the weekend for a total of $100.79 million after a month of release. It became the 25th film released in 2013 to reach the century mark, but it won't be the last.
None of the sophomore class were able to stick around in the top five. Carrie came the closest with $5.99 million over the weekend for a total of $26.11 million after two. It will top its production budget, roughly this time next week, so if it can find an audience internationally and on the home market, it will break even, eventually. On the other hand, Escape Plan is a bomb. It landed in seventh place with $4.56 million over the weekend for a total of $17.64 million after two. It needed to make more than that during its opening weekend to have a shot at paying back its $70 million production budget. The final film in the sophomore class is The Fifth Estate, which basically ceased to exist. It fell 66% to $562,000 over the weekend for a ten-day total of $2.84 million.
Filed under: Weekend Preview, Escape Plan, Gravity, Captain Phillips, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Carrie, The Counselor, The Fifth Estate, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa