October 17, 2011 by Vinnie Leduc
Early numbers indicate that Atom, the little robot that could, again proved that he’s the people’s champion as Real Steel defended its domestic box office title against a pair of ’80s remakes. Okay, so new prequel The Thing officially isn’t a remake, but it has the same exact title, same setting, and basically the same story as John Carpenter’s 1982 cult classic. Despite the latest Thing still being a great watch, it was actually those darned dance-if-I-want-to kids from the Footloose remake that nearly upset Real Steel for a real steal. George Clooney’s The Ides of March and family film Dolphin Tale were holdovers that rounded out the top five, while newcomer The Big Year bombed at its No. 9 debut. The 3D re-release of The Lion King has lifted the popular Disney movie above Toy Story 3 for No. 9 on the all-time domestic box office chart with the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie close in its sights.
Here were the top 5 in the domestic box office last weekend via BOM:
- Real Steel — Weekend Gross: $16.3 million — Total Gross: $51.4 million (#1 last week)
- Footloose — Weekend Gross: $16.1 million — Total Gross: $16.1 million (new)
- The Thing — Weekend Gross: $8.7 million — Total Gross: $8.7 million (new)
- The Ides of March — Weekend Gross: $7.5 million — Total Gross: $22.2 million (#2 last week)
- Dolphin Tale — Weekend Gross: $6.3 million — Total Gross: $58.7 million (#3 last week)
