September 3, 2013 by Vinnie Leduc
Lee Daniels’ The Butler kicked ass in its debut, then the Oscar buzzy historical drama defended the top spot to earn a chance to become the first movie of 2013 to three-peat at the domestic office. Over the extended holiday weekend, The Butler accomplished that feat, but it needed the extra Labor Day to surpass the opening of 3D boy band concert movie One Direction: This Is Us, which ultimately settled for the runner-up position.
Slipping down to third was drug-smuggling comedy We’re the Millers in its fourth weekend, and flying up to fourth place was Planes, also in its fourth weekend. Labor Day fueled Disney’s computer-animated spin-off to Pixar’s Cars to overtake Mexican dramedy Instructions Not Included, which led Planes for fourth place over the traditional three-day weekend. The commercial performance of Instructions Not Included was nevertheless impressive because it broke the record for highest opening for a Spanish-language movie in North America while only playing in 347 theaters as opposed to Planes‘ 3,259. Opening in 2,130 theaters but only in tenth place was action thriller Getaway, one last addition to this summer’s list of flops. Despite the many flops, the final weekend of summer sealed the highest grossing summer box office ever.
A couple of our most anticipated movies of the year reached some milestones stateside. Brad Pitt’s highest-grossing film ever, World War Z, spread over the $200 million mark, and Pacific Rim breached the $100 million mark.
Only one major release this upcoming weekend will try to break The Butler‘s winning streak, and it’s also one of our most anticipated movies of the year, Riddick, which completes the Vin Diesel sci-fi action trilogy.
Here are the numbers for the top five over the extended four-day holiday weekend via BOM:
- Lee Daniels’ The Butler — Weekend Gross: $20.2 million — Total Gross: $79.5 million (#1 last week)
- One Direction: This Is Us — Weekend Gross: $18.5 million — Total Gross: $18.5 million (new)
- We’re the Millers — Weekend Gross: $16.3 million — Total Gross: $113.2 million (#2 last week)
- Planes — Weekend Gross: $10.9 million — Total Gross: $74.0 million (#5 last week)
- Instructions Not Included — Weekend Gross: $10.4 million — Total Gross: $10.4 million (new)
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