As expected, the widely-loved Gravity held onto the top spot, but no one expected it to retain close to 75% of its' audience. The critically-acclaimed thriller was down an unbelievably light 23% to $43.2 million, for a 10-day pick-up of a huge $122.3 million, which much more to go. The film averaged a strong $12,094 from 3,660 locations (up 85 locations from last week). Gravity is the year's 24th movie to pass the century mark, and is already in 17th place for the year in just 10 days. The movie has been getting rave word-of-mouth, and people keep spending extra to see it in 3D (82% came from 3D and IMAX this weekend). With such enthusiastic word-of-mouth, we can easily expect the film to now pass $200 million, and could even close north of $250 million if it keeps holding like this. Warner Bros. made a solid decision releasing this in October instead of the summer, as it is playing like a Summer blockbuster, and a performance like this is nearly unheard of for this time of year. Overseas results continue to be strong, and final worldwide grosses could go as high as $700-$800 million.
Despite the strong competition from Gravity, another major potential Oscar contender was able to open strong in second place. Tom Hanks is certainly back with biographical thriller Captain Phillips, which debuted to $25.7 million, for a per-venue average of a strong $8,516 from 3,020 locations. That was above expectations, which had suggested a debut in line with Argo ($19.5 million). But even if it opened that low, it still would have been a successful opening. Based on true events from three years ago, the pirate flick was produced for just $55 million, and critics adored the film (95% on Rotten Tomatoes). Audiences gave it an "A" CinemaScore, which should help it play well in the coming weeks. For Hanks, this is a nice rebound after last year's notorious bomb Cloud Atlas, and is his biggest opening since Angels and Demons. Don't be surprised if this winds up earning $100 million by the time its' over with, as these kinds of movies tend to hold well. Distributor Sony has turned its' bad year around with this and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.Speaking of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, the animated flick held well in its' third weekend, easing 34% to $13.8 million, for a 17-day pick-up of a solid $77.6 million, or about $4 million behind its' predecessor through the same point. With kids out for Columbus Day tomorrow, Cloudy 2 should close the gap a bit and remain relatively in line with its' predecessor the remainder of its' run. By comparison, the original Cloudy fell 37% to $15.8 million in its' second weekend.
The other new release debuted in fourth place to disastrous results. In fact, the results were so weak that it narrowly edged out the remaining holdovers. Machete Kills turned in the lowest performance to date for a Robert Rodriguez production, earning $3.8 million from 2,538 locations, and a per-venue average of a stale $1,512. That was half of what some were expecting, which had expected the sequel to open to $7-$8 million. Kills had a worse outcome to earlier this year's Kick-*** 2, another sequel which failed to even come close to its' predecessor. The original Machete earned $11 million on its' debut in 2010, and the sequel will be lucky to even match that in its' entire run. Despite the additions of Sofia Vergara, Jessica Alba, Lady Gaga and Charlie Sheen to the cast, the sequel just had no interest from audiences, period. Critics gave it mixed reviews, and audiences gave it a "B" CinemaScore.
Last week's flop, Runner, Runner, fell 51% to $3.77 million, for a bad $14.2 million 10-day gross, in what should be a $20 million top-out. Right behind it is Prisoners, which finally held well, off 37% to $3.6 million, for a 24-day pick-up of a decent $53.6 million. Surprisingly, Insidious - Chapter Two jumped up a spot to seventh and was off a light 30% to $2.7 million, for a strong $78.4 million gross since its' debut one month ago today.
Being next to each other on the chart for the past three weekends, Rush, Don Jon and Baggage Claim rounded out the Top 10. The critically-adored Ron Howard thriller has just been hit with competition, and was down 47% to $2.4 million, for a stale $22.2 million gross in 17 days. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's well-liked dramedy was down 43% to $2.37 million, and has earned $20.2 million in the same amount of time. Baggage Claim was down 50% to $2 million, for a modest $18.2 million 17-day pick-up.
Gravity topped the overseas box office for a second-straight weekend, with another $28 million, for an early $190 million worldwide total. Wrapping up its' phenomenal overseas run, Despicable Me 2 added $10.1 million from 40 territories, expanding into its' final markets and is closing in on $900 million worldwide. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 added $9.1 million from a few small territories, and has picked up $20 million overseas in two weekends. Now You See Me opened in one of its' final territories, China, and earned $8 million, for a $215 million overseas gross ($330 million worldwide). Turbo had holidays in some countries, and added $5.4 million, with its' worldwide tally eclipsing $200 million.
