CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box-Office: Taken 2 Abducts Box Office

Seth Paul

With October underway, it may be a little surprising that the horror film season kicks off with the first-place winner at the box office being an action thriller whose only horrific element may be its reviews. Taken 2 stood tall over the rest with an estimated $50 million, enough to already show net earnings over its $45 million budget, despite being much less well-received than the original film. Last week’s big winner, Hotel Transylvania, settled for second with an estimated $26.3 million, still shy of domestic success but still a winner in worldwide earnings. In a surprising move, the musical comedy Pitch Perfect made big in wide release. Having opened in limited release last weekend, it landed in third with an estimated $14.7 million and already a net earner. Looper also joins this pantheon of successes, even after being pushed to fourth, with an estimated $12.2 million making its total domestic performance $40.3 million, well over its $30 million costs.

Tim Burton’s new stop-motion venture Frankenweenie opened to unspectacular numbers, the reportedly $39 million budgeted film making an estimated $11.5 million, despite glowing reviews. Those reviews represent a high for the Burton, who has put out an even number of hit and miss ventures in the last ten years (the last being his poorly received Dark Shadows, which debuted on home video last Tuesday). Behind it, three films that debuted at the same time and, subsequently, remained joined at hip, trend down at an expected rate, but with varying degrees of success. End of Watch stands on top, having made an estimated $4 million and $32.8 million domestically, far exceeding its $7 million budget. Trouble with the Curve slid in with an estimated $3.8 million and $29.7 million domestic, but with no budget numbers reported it is hard to say if the Clint Eastwood drama is a boom or a bust. But House on the End of the Street is a decided boom, the PG-13 horror film earning an estimated $3.7 million and $27.5 domestic, a high mark for only costing $10 million and earning scathing reviews.

The bottom lays hold to two films doing surprisingly little business. The Master, a critical favorite from indie director Paul Thomas Anderson, was perhaps not likely to find mass market appeal, but at an estimated $1.8 million in weekend sales and $12.3 million in total, it is a major loss against its $35 million budget. Finding Nemo 3D, a film that has long since made its mark on cinema, has not done well in three-dimensional re-release, its estimated $1.6 million this week bringing its domestic totals to $39 million. This makes it the worst 3D re-release performer since Pixar’s own double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 2009 (which only earned $30.7 million).

Weekend Box-Office (October 5th – October 7th)

  1. Taken 2…$50 million
  2. Hotel Transylvania…$26.3 million
  3. Pitch Perfect…$14.7 million
  4. Looper…$12.2 million
  5. Frankenweenie…$11.5 million
  6. End of Watch…$4 million
  7. Trouble with the Curve…$3.8 million
  8. House on the End of the Street…$3.7 million
  9. The Master…$1.8 million
  10. Finding Nemo 3D…$1.6 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."
Exit mobile version