Overall box office was down 7% from last year when The Help dominated Labor Day Weekend with $20 million over the four-day weekend...
On a weekend of mainly downs, one new release surprised. Horror flick The Possession did way better than expectations, bringing in $21.1 million over the four-day weekend ($17.7 million over the three-day), for a per-theater average of a solid $7,485 from around 3,100 screens at 2,816 theaters. That doubled last Labor Day's Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D's opening weekends, and was the third-biggest Labor Day opener ever. Analysts were only expecting around $10-$12 million at most for the film, and distributor Lionsgate has got to be happy. They've had their best year yet as Possession is their third #1 opener this year (after The Hunger Games and The Expendables 2). Produced for a reported $14 million, the movie will likely be very profitable for the studio. The one thing we need to keep an eye on is if it will follow the same dreaded trajectories as other horror flicks. Negative critical reception won't help, but audiences did give it better-than-average reception ("B" CinemaScore VS. "C-" average for other horror flicks). Possession was the first fright flick to top Labor Day Weekend in five years, and had the second-biggest Labor Day extended opening ever behind 2007's Halloween remake ($30.6 million).
Opening in second place was western action drama Lawless, which opened generally in line with expectations. The movie roped in $12.9 million over the extended weekend ($10 million over the Friday-Sunday period), for a per-theater average of a moderate $4,457 from 2,888 theaters, and has earned $15 million since its' Wednesday start. Altogether, considering the lowball marketing campaign, this is still an admirable start. Distributor The Weinstein Company (who has been very quiet this year) had projected around $10 million for the four-day. No budgeting information is available, but it did get positive reviews from critics and a "B+" CinemaScore from audiences.
After topping two straight weekends, The Expendables 2 fell to the bronze position this weekend, but held well, down 33% to $9 million over the three-day, and $11.5 million over the four-day, for a $68.8 million gross in 18 days. Its' expected to finish close to $85 million. The Bourne Legacy also rebounded a bit, down 23% to $7.2 milion over the three-day and $9.3 million over the four-day, for a $98.3 million gross in 25 days. The reboot will likely pass the $100 million mark by the end of next week, but probably will fall short of the first Bourne movie's $121.7 million final gross.
Family films tend to see the biggest bumps over the extended period. ParaNorman slid to fifth place and was down 24% to an $6.6 million over the Friday-Sunday portion (and $9 million over the four-day extended frame). In 18 days, the animated chill pill has picked up $40.4 million, and is headed for a finish north of $50 million. Holding onto the sixth spot was The Odd Life of Timothy Green, which was down a Top 10 best 12% to $6.3 million over the three-day frame, and $8.6 million over the extended frame. In 20 days, the family drama has earned $38.4 million and just like ParaNorman, should finish at or just north of $50 million, a solid result for a movie that had low expectations.
Christopher Nolan's final Batman flick The Dark Knight Rises came in seventh place and was down only 16% to $6.1 million over the three-day ($8 million for the four-day), and has earned a shocking $433.3million in seven weeks. The movie became only the 12th film in history to pass the $1 billion mark worldwide this weekend, and next weekend, it will pass E.T. to become the eighth-biggest movie of all-time stateside. 2016: Obama's America and The Campaign swapped places for the three-day and four-day frames. Campaign came in eighth place for the three-day, beating the documentary, $5.7 milion (-24%) to $5.6 million (-14%), but the independent release came out ahead of the political comedy for the extended frame, $7.5 milion to $7.2 million. Totals are $74.8 milllion in 25 days for Campaign and $20.6 million in eight weeks for 2016. Rounding out the Top 10 was Hope Springs, which was down just 18% to $4.7 million over the three-day ($6.1 million over the four-day), for a $53.5 million gross in 27 days of release, and will likely close north of $60 million.
Some major movies from the summer expanded back into wide release this weekend to get one final burst of business. The most notable was Disney's expansion of The Avengers to 1,705 theaters, and roped in $2.5 million over the four-day weekend. The Marvel superhero ensemble has earned $620.3 million in North America in four months of release, and passed the $1.5 billion mark worldwide. Brave also expanded to 1,708 theaters, but only saw its' business go up to $2.1 million over the extended period, and has earned a solid $232.4 million in over two months of release. DreamWorks expanded Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Sony expanded The Amazing Spider-Man, which both have earned solid tallies of $214.8 million and $260 million in three months and two months, respectively.
Finally, The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure didn't get off the ground in 26th place, with just $443,000 in three days, $610,000 in four and $837,000 in six, all against a budget between $15 and $20 million.
Internationally, thanks to a strong opening in China, The Dark Knight Rises reclaimed the top spot for a sixth non-consecutive weekend with $46.4 milllion in 64 territories, pushing its' overseas gross to $575 milion and worldwide gross past $1 billion and past the final worldwide gross of The Dark Knight. Looks like the movie is set for close to $650 million overseas by the time it finishes its run. Also opening in China and claiming second place was The Amazing Spider-Man, which earned a strong $33.6 million in 59 markets. Since its' opening two months ago, the superhero reboot has earned $475 million overseas and $705 million worldwide, with another $100 million likely to come. The Expendables 2 is set to be in third place (with numbers to be reported later this week). Total Recall came in fourth with $13 million from 74 markets, with its' overseas gross about to cross the $100 million mark. Brave rounded out the Top 5 with another $12.9 milion from 51 territories, for an overseas gross of close to $240 milion and worldwide gross approaching $475 million.
