Box Office Weekend: Best Man Holiday a Hit, But Not Mighty Enough to Defeat Thor

Thor: The Dark World had a bit of an Ender’s Game moment at the box office, slipping massively from its debut after a successful opening day. However, when your opening weekend is $85.7 million, to earn an estimated $38.5 million the second is hardly cause for alarm, as Marvel continues its unstoppable press of successful films here and worldwide. It managed to beat out the debut of the positively received The Best Man Holiday, a sequel to the 1999 film The Best Man. The romantic comedy cost $17 million to make, but made an estimated $30.6 million this weekend, somewhat restoring director Malcolm D. Lee’s reputation after the abysmally received and only minimally successful Scary Movie 5 from earlier this year.

Last Vegas and Free Birds took the next two spots, with neither film getting warm critical reception. However, Last Vegas fought an uphill battle and won, with an estimated $8.9 million this weekend giving it $47 million in total, a sight better than its $28 million budget. Free Birds had a similar performance this weekend with an estimated $8.3 million, but still falls well short of its $55 million costs.

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa fell to fifth, but with an estimated $7.7 million getting banked into a $90.2 million domestic total, it proves Johnny Knoxville and company are still capable of drawing an audience. Gravity as well continues to sink down the list, but it too has nothing to worry about, its estimated $6.3 million a nice bonus to add to its $240.6 million in domestic earnings, and currently the highest earning film at the box office. Both films have certainly put poor Ender’s Game to shame, as the first place finisher at the box office two weeks ago floundered amid bigger name releases and mixed reception, its $6.2 million weekend estimated only adding to $53.8 million at the box office domestically, against $110 million in costs.

The bottom holds two independent films and one high profile picture. 12 Years a Slave seems to have hit its peak, losing income as it picks up more theaters with an estimated $4.7 million, though it is unclear if its domestic revenue ($24.9 million) makes it a hit or miss as of yet. The same could be said for tenth-place finisher About Time; in its second week of wide release (and third week overall), it too has started to peter off, only picking up an estimated $3.5 million and $11.6 million domestically, but without budget numbers there is no telling whether this is a surprise hit or a sizable bomb. Captain Phillips, on the other hand, is no bomb, but also never managed to catch Gravity (its biggest rival) in popularity, earning an estimated $4.5 million this weekend and $97.6 million domestically.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."

Latest posts by Seth Paul (see all)

• Box Office Weekend: Eight Figure Box Office for Magnificent Seven - September 26, 2016
• Box Office Weekend: Sully Rides High for Second Week - September 19, 2016
• Box Office Weekend: Sully Lands On Target - September 12, 2016