CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box-Office: The Lion King 3D Reigns at the Box Office

Seth Paul

Four films debuted in the Top 10 this week…but leave it to a 17-year-old animated film to claim the crown. The Lion King 3D took the top spot with an estimated $29.3 million. Whether it was the gimmicky 3D or just the film’s reputation, it easily bested everything else for the weekend, including last week’s top movie, Contagion. The Steven Soderbergh thriller weathered well enough, only dropping to an estimated $14.5 million and an overall take of $44 million domestic in two weeks. In third place, Drive took up position behind both films, the only other film to make it into the double millions with an estimated $11 million.

The Help appears to be beginning its slide from greatness, only landing in fourth with an estimated $6.4 million, but with $147.3 million in six weeks and apparently time left to go before it drops completely from the list, it certainly won’t be going away unhappy. However, similar amounts do not bode well for the two debuts sitting just underneath The Help; Straw Dogs, the remake of Sam Peckinpah’s action thriller, starts out its first week in rough territory with an estimated $5 million…only slightly better than the Sarah Jessica Parker comedy I Don’t Know How She Does It, which made an estimated $4.5 million.

The Debt held on steadily enough for its third week, placing seventh with an estimated $2.9 million, but the shocker is the critically acclaimed Warrior, which fell to eighth with an estimated $2.7 million. The film drags near the bottom of the list with only $9 million to its name in domestic gross, putting it well below its $25 million price tag.

No such fears, however, for ninth and tenth place finishers Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Colombiana. Though Rise needs no help from the foreign market to show its success (its estimated $2.6 million adding to its already triumphant $171.6 million domestic gross), Colombiana does; its estimated $2.3 million gives it a boost to $33 million domestic gross, while a handful of overseas venues put it just above its $40 million budget; by no means a runaway success, but certainly faring better than Warrior.

Weekend Box-Office (September 16 – September 18)

  1. The Lion King 3D…$29.3 million
  2. Contagion…$14.5 million
  3. Drive…$11 million
  4. The Help…$6.4 million
  5. Straw Dogs…$5 million
  6. I Don’t Know How She Does It…$4.5 million
  7. The Debt…$2.9 million
  8. Warrior…$2.7 million
  9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes…$2.6 million
  10. Colombiana…$2.3 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