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Box Office Weekend: The Wolverine Carves a First Place Spot

Seth Paul
Box Office Weekend

The Wolverine, Hugh Jackman’s latest venture as the perennially gruff superhero, appears to have redeemed the series in the eyes of the critics, but even though it took the weekend with an estimated $55 million, it fell behind both the prequel X-Men: First Class and only managed to do slightly better than the original X-Men released in 2000. Nevertheless, counting worldwide sales the film has made its money back, and likely to do decent business in the weeks to come. Whether it does the sort of business The Conjuring or Despicable Me 2 pulled off is a different story; the R-rated and massively successful ghost story made an estimated $22.1 million and quadrupled ticket sales over its $20 million budget, while the family friendly CG sequel is now the second highest grossing film domestically of 2013, its estimated $16 million bringing it to a whopping $306.4 million on a $76 million budget.

Turbo seems to be lending itself towards the disappointment end of the scale for Dreamworks; despite being moderately well-received, its estimated $13.3 million brings it to a domestic total of $55.8 million, and along with worldwide receipts, far less than its $135 million costs. Proving some things are critic-proof, Grown Ups 2 continues to ride a success wave, earning an estimated $11.5 million and a domestic profit; proving some things are not, the critically panned Red 2 is not getting much in the way of income either, its estimated $9.4 million not enough to make two weeks at the box office close to profitable ($35.1 million against $84 million in costs).

Pacific Rim is relying heavily on its foreign box office to make it profitable, as its estimated $7.5 million makes its domestic earnings of $84 million appear to be a failure (despite worldwide gross adding up to $224 million). The Heat continues its hot streak, with an estimated $6.9 million bringing the modestly budgeted action comedy to a rousing $141.2 million in domestic earnings. But both films are doing far, far better than the lackluster R.I.P.D., whose estimated $5.9 million is bringing to very close to major bomb status; at $37.1 million worldwide, it currently lags behind its costs by $92.9 million, meaning it stands to lose far more than even The Lone Ranger (which has only fallen short by $50 million worldwide).

The final spot on the top ten belongs to Fruitvale Station, the Weinstein Company-produced drama about the 2008 fatal shooting of Oscar Grant. Receiving massive critical praise, the unreleased budget numbers still speak well for the film’s chances, as its estimated $4.7 million is a major uptick as it enters wide release after two weeks in limited release.

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Weekend Box Office (July 26th – July 28th)

  1. The Wolverine…$55 million
  2. The Conjuring…$22.1 million
  3. Despicable Me 2…$16 million
  4. Turbo…$13.3 million
  5. Grown-Ups 2…$11.5 million
  6. Red 2…$9.4 million
  7. Pacific Rim…$7.5 million
  8. The Heat…$6.9 million
  9. R.I.P.D….$5.9 million
  10. Fruitvale Station…$4.7 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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