CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box Office: 3D Takes the Top Spots!

Seth Paul

It was a battle between the newest adventure of Alice the monster killer and the re-release of a Pixar classic…and zombies were the winners. Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth entry in the movie series (now only vaguely) based on the videogame series and the second in 3D, came in first with an estimated $21.1 million…still not much to speak of in terms of box office, but a sight better than The Possession managed last week (and which came in third this weekend with an estimated $5.8 million). Finding Nemo, enjoying a theatrical re-release complete with 3D makeover, added a modest estimate of $17.5 million to the film’s already massive worldwide take. Although Resident Evil: Retribution has a long ways to go to make a successful bid for domestic earnings, it has already done good business overseas and has made up its $65 million budget (though it has made no friends in critical circles).

In fact, with no other new films breaking into the Top Ten this week, the biggest surprise is the rate of drop-off for the films now playing…no film dropped below 40% of its reported revenue from the week before. Lawless continues its already unimpressive beginnings with an estimated $4.2 million, as does ParaNorman with an estimated $3 million, tying or slightly besting the estimated $3 million for The Expendables 2. With the exception of Lawless (which continues to avoid reporting its costs), none of the previous three films have been domestic successes, but at least The Expendables 2 has managed to pull in more respectable numbers in foreign box office, giving it a healthy $238.7 million worldwide. This makes it, overall, a bigger moneymaker than the original film, though by a very slim margin.

The Bourne Legacy was beaten out by The Words, which, with an estimated $2.9 million, has already made good on its $6 million costs, despite near universal panning. The action film, unlike The Expendables 2, remains a critical and financial low point for the Bourne franchise, but is by no means a failure…even with a higher budget than the Sylvester Stallone blockbuster, it has still managed to take in $198.9 million worldwide, and broke the $100 million mark domestically, which The Expendables 2 still has yet to accomplish. Rounding out the bottom, last-minute box office winner The Odd Life of Timothy Green won out over The Campaign. Despite mixed reviews, The Odd Life of Timothy Green just managed to break even, its estimated $2.5 million putting some distance between its costs and it’s net. The Campaign started out strong and (most likely) finishes its time in the Top Ten strong, with an estimated $2.4 million adding a nice cap to its $82.9 million domestic totals.

Weekend Box-Office (September 14th – September 16th)

  1. Resident Evil: Retribution…$21.1 million
  2. Finding Nemo 3D…$17.5 million
  3. The Possession…$5.8 million
  4. Lawless…$4.2 million
  5. ParaNorman…$3 million
  6. The Expendables 2…$4.8 million
  7. The Words…$5 million
  8. The Bourne Legacy…$4 million
  9. The Odd Life of Timothy Green…$3.7 million
  10. The Campaign…$3.5 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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