CinemaNerdz

Box Office Weekend: Maze Runner Leads Upward Trend

Seth Paul
Box Office Weekend

When the box office hit a dull spot two weeks ago, it could be supposed that there was nowhere to go but up, and the latest crop of new releases helped in that department. While not all were critical darlings (Jason Bateman’s This is Where I Leave You being one of the more obvious ones), they still generated enough to make this an even bigger weekend than last. The Maze Runner made an excellent start, nearly making back its costs with an estimated $32.5 million, while the new Liam Neeson thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones’ estimated $13.1 million may not have been quite as impressive, it is still a relatively good start for a budgeted $28 million film. This is Where I Leave You is also off to a relatively good start despite its reviews with an estimated $11.9 million on a $19.8 million budget.

No Good Deed, the first-place winner from last week, fell to all three new releases with an estimated $10.2 million, but the poorly-reviewed thriller is already a winner. Dolphin Tale 2, on the other hand, struggles to make ends meet despite good reviews, earning an estimated $9 million and still short of its $36 million budget.

Neither can compare to the massive success of Guardians of the Galaxy, which remains the highest grossing domestic film of the year, adding to its $313.7 million with an estimated $5.2 million, but Let’s Be Cops and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are the closest competitors, with both critical disasters being box office favorites at $77.2 million and $185 million respectively in domestic earnings, and estimates of roughly $2.7 million apiece for the weekend.

Finally, The Drop came in ninth, following its debut last week at sixth, and an estimated $2.1 million in revenue still unlikely to cover its (unreported) costs, while the paranormal teen fare of If I Stay earned an estimated $1.8 million and has managed to be a winner at the box office after five weeks of work, bringing in a domestic total of $47.7 million.

Weekend Box Office (September 19th – September 21st)

  1. The Maze Runner…$32.5 million
  2. A Walk Among the Tombstones…$13.1 million
  3. This is Where I Leave You…$11.9 million
  4. No Good Deed…$10.2 million
  5. Dolphin Tale 2…$9 million
  6. Guardians of the Galaxy…$5.2 million
  7. Let’s Be Cops…$2.7 million
  8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…$2.7 million
  9. The Drop…$2.1 million
  10. If I Stay…$1.8 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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