After a record-breaking summer, the box office slowed down this Fall. With an estimated $1.12 billion, revenue was roughly on par with last Fall's record-breaking season.
The season's largest-grossing film was Gravity, which has pulled in a huge $204.5 million (estimated) in just 28 days of release. On Monday, the critically-acclaimed sci-fi thriller became the 9th movie of 2013 to pass $200 million stateside, and has performed way above expectations. What's even better, through now, it has already earned close to 4 times its' opening weekend, as the film has had some of the strongest word-of-mouth in a long time for a movie. While Gravity will lose a lot of screens in the coming weeks (particularly IMAX), it should still manage to pass $250 million by the time its' done.
In a very distant second place with around half the gross was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which managed $101.7 million (estimated) in 35 days (nearly three times its opening weekend). While a solid performance overall and Cloudy 2 will be the biggest-grossing animated flick since Despicable Me 2, the sequel didn't quite hit expectations. Many analysts believed this would break the September record and ultimately at least match Hotel Transylvania's gross (it was the only family movie opening between Planes and Free Birds). What's more important, 2 will fall $10-$15 million shy of its predecessor, which while may not sound bad (especially given the fact Smurfs 2 fell $70 million away from its' predecessor), is still a bit disappointing given how well-liked the first movie is. Still though, this is a decent-sized performance and an overall great rebound for Sony.
Third place goes to Insidious - Chapter Two, which took advantage of its' Friday the 13th release date and went on to earn $82.5 million (estimated) in 49 days, or roughly twice its massive $40.5 million opening weekend. Insidious 2 had the third-biggest September opening on record, and outperformed its' predecessor by 50%. That's a rarity for a sequel, and goes to show how well-liked this new brand is. While it will fall short of becoming FilmDistrict's first $100 million movie, its' still another strong success for the upstart studio.
Captain Phillips took fourth with a strong take of $72.9 million (estimated) in 20 days. The Tom Hanks thriller is performing above expectations and will probably wind up above $100 million by the time it is done. Rounding out the Top 5 was Prisoners, which had picked up $59.4 million (estimated) in 42 days, a solid yet unspectacular gross for a well-reviewed flick (it has earned roughly three times its' opening weekend).
The only other winner for the season was Bad Grandpa, which has amassed an estimated $40.3 million in its' first seven days. That's the second-biggest seven day tally for a film in the Jack--- franchise, and could go on to gross around $75 million by the time its' done. For the month, Grandpa finished in seventh behind the Top 5 and Riddick, which clocked in $42.1 million since its' debut 56 days ago.
Riddick was a middler, along with The Family ($36.5 million), Don Jon ($23.6 million), and Enough Said ($13.4 million). The season's biggest loser was Machete Kills at a miniscule $7.4 million. Other losers include Battle of the Year ($8.9 million), Escape Plan ($19.1 million), Runner Runner ($19 million), Rush ($26.4 million), Carrie ($27.9 million) and The Counselor ($9.9 million in seven days).
As of now, overall business is at $8.8 billion and counting for 2013, up about $30 million from 2012, and around $50 million from 2011 and 2010. It will be up to a crowded holiday season to pull 2013 to a record gross for the year. As for studio share, four of seven studios have already passed the $1 billion mark, with Warner Bros. holding the lead ($1.58 billion). Universal and Disney claim second and third place with $1.32 billion and $1.17 billion. Sony passed $1 billion recently and has earned $1.01 billion so far. 20th Century Fox is currently at $978.5 million, and should pass $1 billion with Black Nativity and Walking with Dinosaurs still to come. Paramount brings up the rear for the "Big Six" unsurprisingly with $759.5 million (no Marvel or DreamWorks this year) so far. Lionsgate currently sits at $559.2 million, with a huge boost from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, A Madea Christmas, and Ender's Game should help it eventually hit $1 billion.
Holiday Season preview coming tomorrow....
