Going to infinity and beyond isn't easy, especially when you're opening in October, but Gravity did that this weekend, soaring up and above expectations. The sci-fi thriller opened to an unexpectedly huge $55.8 million, for a per-venue average of a fantastic $15,604 from around 7,600 screens at 3,575 locations. A huge 80% of business came from 3D and 21% from IMAX 3D, making it one of the best performances of 3D altogether in quite a long time (most movies now have 35-40% of their business in 3D now). This huge debut also tops Paranormal Activity 3's $52.6 million debut back in 2011 to take the October opening weekend record, and is the biggest opening to date for both Sandra Bullock and George Clooney's careers. Warner Bros. did a killer job with the marketing and making this an event movie that all may see, taking advantage of the best reviews for any movie of the year. Audiences gave it a "A-" CinemaScore, and its' director Alfonso Cuaron's second-biggest opening after Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Look for strong legs as there is little competition for adult audiences for the remainder of the month. Warner Bros., who is now having a great year, produced the film for $100 million, and were expecting a mid-30's millions debut.Overseas, Gravity got off to a great start, earning $28 million from just 27 markets. With many major markets still yet to open, the worldwide gross should at least hit $400 million.
After its' solid opening last weekend, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 had a typical decline for an animated flick, off 38% to $21 million. That's not a terrific hold though, as the first Cloudy dipped 17% in its' second weekend, and earned more over the weekend. In fact, the 10-day tally of the sequel fell slightly behind its' predecessor through the same point ($60 million vs. $60.4 million). With no competition for the rest of the month though, Cloudy 2 should stabilize even stronger in the weeks ahead and easily pass $100 million.
Opening in a very distant third was the other new release, crime thriller Runner, Runner. And despite the presence of Ben Affleck, the film flopped with just $7.7 million, for a per-venue average of an abysmal $2,547 from 3,026 locations. That was below expectations, which had pegged a low-teens millions debut, and is another blow in a mixed year for distributor 20th Century Fox. It also is a hit to Justin Timberlake's career, in which he has yet to star in any majorly successful movies. With a dreadful "C" CinemaScore and bad reviews, look for this movie to leave theaters quickly. Any upsides? Well, it has earned $20 million overseas so far and the budget was only $30 million, so it shouldn't be a huge write-down by the time its' all said and done. Fox was hoping for at least $10 million.With the intense competition for adults, Prisoners fell almost the same amount as last week, down 47% to $5.7 million, for a 17-day pick-up of a decent $47.9 million. The flick probably would've done better had it opened in November, which has less competition for adult audiences. As a result, the well-reviewed movie hasn't shown any strength and will likely close with around $60 million, just under three times its' opening.
Prisoners at least held better than Rush, which dropped 55% to $4.5 million, for a $18.2 million pick-up in 17 days. Ron Howard's well-reviewed flick will probably finish with $25 million, with strong overseas grosses helping it to recover from a dismal domestic performance.
Other adult-oriented pics failed to hold well in the face of new competition. Don Jon was down 52% to $4.2 million, for a small $16.1 million pick-up in 10 days. Baggage Claim was off 55% to $4.1 million, for a $15.1 million gross in the same amount of time. The only thing this movie can boast at this point is that its' holding better than Tyler Perry's movies, though that's a minor accomplishment at best. Both will likely finish with around or just over $20 million. Insidious - Chapter 2, on the other hand, was relatively unharmed by the new competition, off a fairly light 41% to $3.9 million, for a strong $74.8 million gross in 24 days.
Another Spanish-language movie opened in limited release and did great business. Pulling Strings tallied a very strong $2.5 million, for a solid $6,375 per-venue average, the second-biggest of the weekend behind Gravity. While not as impressive as Instructions Not Included, the film still boasted a strong debut. Another limited release rounded out the Top 10, the final movie that James Gandolfini starred in, Enough Said. The romantic comedy earned $2.2 million from 437 locations, for a $5,017 per-venue average. This is a fine start, and if it can continue to expand, it should be a success for Fox Searchlight, who has two movies in the Top 10 (this and Baggage Claim).
Below the Top 10, Grace Unplugged rallied roughly $1 million in sales, for a stale $1,953 per-venue average in 15th place. That was better than The Ultimate Life back one month ago, but its' not a very good start considering the film had a fairly solid marketing campaign.
Overseas, Gravity led with $28 million. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 began its' slow overseas roll-out with $8.1 million, and The Lone Ranger debuted with a fine $7 million in China.
