CinemaNerdz

Box Office Weekend: Forecast Calls for Cloudy With a Chance of Winning Box Office

Seth Paul
Box Office Weekend

Sony may not have a Despicable Me 2 on their hands, but they did come up with a strong start with a sequel of their own; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 debuted in first place at the box office with an estimated $35 million. Not only is that more in the first weekend than its predecessor, but with a cheaper price tag than the first film as well ($78 million vs. $100 million). Unfortunately, it has received less critical praise overall…something that is not a problem for second-place finisher Prisoners (estimated $11.3 million) and the wide release of Rush (estimated $10.3 million). While it spent its first week in a five theater limited release, the Ron Howard-directed biopic of the rivalry of Formula 1 racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda surged up the charts. Ironically, while both films are top critic picks, neither has yet to make a profit as they both enter their second week, even though both are modestly budgeted films (Prisoners at $46 million and Rush at $38 million).

The romantic comedy Baggage Claim did not score well with critics, but made an estimated $9.3 million regardless (though its unreported budget numbers are a little disquieting), while the romantic comedy Don Jon, starring and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, did score well with critics and audiences, its estimated $9 million already making it a winner against a $6 million investment. Of course, even that win is nothing compared to Insidious: Chapter 2, which remains in terms of percentages the most profitable film in the top ten; its estimated $6.7 million puts it into $69.5 million domestic earnings, crushing its $5 million budget and critic-proofing itself against the chances for a third installment in the series.

The Family scraped itself into the black this week with an estimated $3.7 million, giving writer/director Luc Besson something that looks less like his Taken franchise and more like his…well, usual film receptions. Instructions Not Included fell to eighth with an estimated $3.4 million, the indie juggernaut finally showing signs of slowing, while We’re the Millers and Lee Daniels’ The Butler, at estimates of $2.9 million and $2.4 million respectively, will most likely be bowing out of the top ten soon as big winners, with both films still the current champions of the box office with domestic totals well over $100 million.

Weekend Box Office (September 27th – September 29th)

  1. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2…$35 million
  2. Prisoners…$11.3 million
  3. Rush…$10.3 million
  4. Baggage Claim…$9.3 million
  5. Don Jon…$9 million
  6. Insidious: Chapter 2…$6.7 million
  7. The Family…$3.7 million
  8. Instructions Not Included…$3.4 million
  9. We’re the Millers…$2.9 million
  10. Lee Daniels’ The Butler…$2.4 million

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."
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