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Posted May 13, 2013 by Seth Paul in News
 
 

Box Office Weekend: Gatsby Reaches for the Light but Iron Man Snatches It Away

Box OfficeDirector Baz Luhrmann may have had a solid weekend with his adaptation of The Great Gatsby, earning an estimated $51.1 million despite mixed reviews, but it failed to keep Iron Man 3 from taking the box office for a second straight week. The Marvel Studios franchise made a fine showing in its second weekend with an estimated $72.5 million, not only profiting on its $200 million budget, but making a killing worldwide with $949 million in total sales.

Once again, the rest of the top ten fared little against the mighty Marvel juggernaut, as no other film broke into double digits. Pain & Gain, though monetarily successful, may be a disappointment to director Michael Bay (who is used to multi-million Iron Man 3profits on his movies), as it only made an estimated $5 million for its third week. So, too, must Tyler Perry Presents Peeples be a disappointment for its producer. Though not directing or writing this entry, Peeples is the worst opening for anything with Tyler Perry’s name attached to it, debuting with an estimated $4.9 million…barely a third of the production costs. Meanwhile, 42 (estimated $4.7 million) has made back twice its budget and is now the second highest grossing movie about baseball, fictional and otherwise.

Oblivion (estimated $3.9 million) may be on track to poor stateside performance as the $120 million-budgeted film has only made $81.7 million here, but worldwide it has done quite a bit better, doubling its budget and ensuring it does not bomb out. The Croods (estimated $3.6 million) has done well here and overseas, making $533.9 million in total worldwide sales. But woe to The Big Wedding (estimated $2.5 million), whose horrid reviews and poor revenue are not a good mix…even at only $35 million to make it has only earned $18.3 million, and at eighth place it does not seem likely to break even before DVD and Blu-ray sales.

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Finally, last week’s surprising entry Mud opened in more theaters and made more money with an estimated $2.3 million, despite the acclaimed film dropping a few spots in the rankings. Oz the Great and Powerful managed to squeeze out at least one more week in the top ten, earning an estimated $802,000 and an astounding $230 million domestic box office in ten weeks.

Weekend Box Office (May 10th – May 12th)

  1. Iron Man 3…$72.5 million
  2. The Great Gatsby…$51.1 million
  3. Pain & Gain…$5 million
  4. Tyler Perry Presents Peeples…$4.9 million
  5. 42…$4.7 million
  6. Oblivion…$3.9 million
  7. The Croods…$3.6 million
  8. The Big Wedding…$2.5 million
  9. Mud…$2.3 million
  10. Oz the Great and Powerful…$802,000
Seth Paul

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."