Overall box office will still be down from last year...
With fabulous reviews and a strong marketing campaign, Gravity went above and beyond its' hype, tallying a huge estimated $17.5 million. Alfonso Cuaron will be getting his second-biggest opener to date behind the third Harry Potter movie, and it will become the biggest opener for both Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. A CinemaScore is not available right now. Look for a first place opening of $49 million, the second-biggest October opener behind Paranormal Activity 3.
After debuting strong last weekend, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 declined 49% to an estimated $4.7 million in its' second Friday. This is a steep drop, and is much steeper than its' predecessor. In fact, with a projected second weekend take of $20 million, that's $5 million lower than the first movie. But, to be fair, most animated movies (sequels especially) drop a bit hard on their second weekend, so expect it to hold much better after this.
Runner, Runner got off to a muted start in third, with an estimated $2.8 million, and will likely earn a stale $7.5 million for the weekend. Rounding out the Top 5 were Prisoners and Rush, which added estimates of $1.7 million and $1.4 million, and are dropping hard in the face of strong competition. Prisoners should earn close to $6 million, while Rush will settle for $4.5 million.
No numbers available yet for Grace Unplugged, but it could cross $1 million for the weekend (I'm seeing it this afternoon). James Gandolfini's final movie Enough Said earned $590,000 from 450 locations, and should eke out $2 million for the frame.
