October 21, 2013 by Vinnie Leduc
Despite the absence of another Paranormal Activity film in the weekends preceding Halloween this year, the Carrie remake couldn’t capitalize enough in its opening to bring down Gravity, which joined Lee Daniels’ The Butler as the only 2013 movies so far to three-peat at the domestic box office. Starring Chloë Grace Moretz in the titular role, the Stephen King horror adaptation couldn’t hijack Captain Phillips‘ reigning runner-up position either and instead settled for a very close third place behind the Tom Hanks action thriller.
Sly-Ahnold prison flick Escape Plan debuted over the weekend as well and settled for fourth place, barely above 3D computer-animated adventure Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which still served leftovers in its fourth weekend. Escape Plan, which has grossed $10 million but cost $70 million to make, can thank fellow opener The Fifth Estate for making Escape Plan‘s march to Flop City feel like a consolation prize. That’s because the WikiLeaks thriller bombed terribly in eighth place with only $1.7 million against a budget of $30 million. The Fifth Estate‘s dud of a debut totaled to less than half of Paranoia‘s initial take a couple months ago, making it the worst opening for any 2013 movie in over 1,500 theaters.
Gravity‘s strong holds can be partially attributed to its amazing performance in IMAX (and fake IMAX) theaters. Its $7.4 million IMAX gross over the weekend is the second highest ever for a movie in its third weekend, only trailing Avatar. This upcoming weekend Alfonso Cuarón’s 3D sci-fi flick will try to extend its winning streak against Ridley Scott’s drama thriller The Counselor and Johnny Knoxville comedy Bad Grandpa, which was inspired by a Jackass character.
Here are the numbers for the top five over the weekend via BOM:
- Gravity — Weekend Gross: $30 million — Total Gross: $169.6 million (#1 last week)
- Captain Phillips — Weekend Gross: $16.4 million — Total Gross: $52.4 million (#2 last week)
- Carrie — Weekend Gross: $16.1 million — Total Gross: $16.1 million (new)
- Escape Plan — Weekend Gross: $9.9 million — Total Gross: $9.9 million (new)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 — Weekend Gross: $9.7 million — Total Gross: $92.7 million (#3 last week)
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